


Finally Together

by MistyTheFangirlyLady



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Reunions, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistyTheFangirlyLady/pseuds/MistyTheFangirlyLady
Summary: One night on Halloween, Mike and El reunite once again. Determined to find her again, Mike finds her in the cabin...then things happen.*Mike and Eleven-centric**Lots of Mileven, of course!**Set After Prompt #7 of 30 Days of Mileven (Basically, set after Episode 2 of Season 2)*





	1. The Cabin

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my fanfiction! This was made due to one of my prompts in my 30 Day OTP Challenge fanfic, 30 Days of Mileven (if you haven't read the prompt, it's the 7th one, the cosplaying one). After writing that, I felt like it needed to go on (plus, a couple others thought the same too), so I decided to write this! Comments, kudos, and constructive criticism is appreciated!
> 
> Otherwise, here's Chapter 1!

_"I'm okay, Mike. I'm in a safe place."_

His breath hitched. He couldn't believe his ears...

It was her.

After being gone for nearly a year...

It was her.

More tears streamed down his face, but they were of joy and relief, the boy smiling. "El...it's really you..."

* * *

_Just seeing him smile and look at her made the curly-haired girl release a few tears and smile as well. "I never gave up on you," he continued. "I've tried reaching you, every day..."_

_"353," she said, putting her hand back to her side now._

* * *

He was shocked when she said that, but he assumed she heard him say that it was Day 353. He kept his smile and replied, "Y-yeah...353 days..." He sniffled, wiping his nose. "It's so good to hear your voice again, El."

* * *

_Although she had heard his voice for the last 353 days, this was the first time she ever heard him sounding so happy. "I missed you so much, Mike," she said to him._

_"I missed you too, El."_

* * *

"Where are you?" he asked, sniffling once more as he wiped his tears away. "You should come back. I have this little fort set up for you again..."

* * *

_"I can get you whatever you want, anything." She began to frown. "It'd be great. I'd love it if you came back here, El." She was flattered by the offer and wished to do so..._

_But she was living with Hopper, so that was impossible._

_"Mike..." she said in a somber tone._

* * *

_"I'm sorry...but I can't,"_ he heard her answer. His smile dropped instantly. He felt a wave of worry hit him, making him shuffle in place a little.

"Wh-what do you mean you can't?" he asked her. "Wh-what's wrong, El?" He sniffled once more.

* * *

_She could feel herself losing more and more energy, so she had to wrap it up quickly. She began thinking of something._

_"El?" Mike asked again, looking very worried. It hurt her to see him like this._

_She finally came up with something and said, "The woods...there's a cabin..."_

* * *

"Meet me there."

A cabin? In the woods? "Are you there right now, El?"

"Can't talk anymore. Just meet me there in the morning, Mike. Goodbye." Now all that was left was static.

He got even more worried. "El?!" he cried out into the walkie-talkie. He listened for an answer, but there was only static. He felt panicked. "Eleven?! Are you there?!" He listened for an answer again. Nothing. The sorrowful tears came back. "EL?!"

* * *

El got herself out of the dark place and instantly removed the piece of cloth from her eyes, panting. Not only was her nose bleeding, but also her ears too, due to the length of time she took talking to him. Her head hurt, so she put her hands on her forehead. She closed her eyes and sighed. She hoped he would come here tomorrow morning...and that Hopper wouldn't catch him. She knew she would be in deep trouble if the man knew what she did tonight, but as long as he didn't notice...

* * *

"Mike?" called out his mother, whose footsteps were approaching the basement. That startled him a lot. He shouldn't really make her concerned, so he wiped his tears and his nose before standing up and taking deep breaths. The door opened and revealed her in a robe and her hair tight in a bun. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine..." he answered.

"I heard you scream down here."

"I, uh..." He looked back at the fort and pointed at that, coming up with, "I just stubbed my toe there."

She nodded, though it looked like she didn't believe it. "Okay..." She cleared her throat and placed a hand on her hip. "Well, it's past your bedtime, young man."

He nodded again, walking to the stairs and up them. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Well, get to bed."

"I am..." he replied in a whiny voice as he walked right past her. As he went up the stairs to his bedroom, he began thinking of what El told him. A cabin in the woods...he never saw a cabin in the woods.

At the same time, he never really hung out at the woods.

But El was hiding there. He finally found her, now he'll just need to look for her so that they can be reunited, at long last.

He opened the door to his bedroom, entered into it, and closed the door behind him to change and go to bed.

* * *

In the morning, El and Hopper began eating their breakfast, being quiet, which was unusual for them. However, both of them argued with each other about what Eleven did last night, so it was expected. El kept looking down at her food while Hopper sometimes looked at her. Finally, after about...what? A few minutes of silence? He decided to say, "Kid." El stopped eating, but kept her eyes on the food. "I..." He then sighed. "Can you at least look at me?" She grudgingly did so with annoyed eyes. 

He sighed once again. "Listen, kid...I'm sorry about last night." Her eyes widened in surprise. "I was in a bad mood after work. I didn't mean to scream at you most of the time or call you names. I still didn't like what you did, but I probably should have talked to you like a responsible adult instead of doing that other shit. So, I'm sorry." She was surprised about this. He was actually apologizing to her for last night? So, did that mean- "But..." That made her train of thought stop, his face more serious than before. "Like I said before, I didn't like what you did there, sneaking out and breaking the rules. Somebody could have saw you."

"No one saw me," she instantly rebutted, now feeling annoyed again.

"Are you sure?" She nodded. "No one saw you at all?" With the exception of Mike, she didn't believe anyone else knew it was her, so she nodded again. "I'll take your word for it.  If I find out that you were lying to me, there'll be consequences, understand?" The girl felt her blood run cold when she heard that. She hated that, she hated that a lot. "Kid." She looked up at him again. "Do you understand?"

For now, this will have to do, so she nodded. "Yes...I promise."

He nodded back at her. "Promise." The two then continued eating their breakfast. El really hoped that Mike would arrive after Hop leaves. She wanted to see him so bad, but if Hop knew she communicated with him and invited him over...

* * *

Back in the Wheeler home, Mike was eating his eggs rather quickly. Nancy gave him a concerned look as well as Mrs. Wheeler. After a moment, Mrs. Wheeler asked, "Michael, are you alright?"

He stopped speed-eating his food and looked up at her. "What? Uh, yeah, sure," he answered with his mouth full. Her mother raised an eyebrow at him, making him swallow the eggs and add on, "I'm okay, Mom. I'm just...worried if there's going to be a pop quiz in, uh...social studies." The woman slowly nodded, looking a bit skeptical before eating her meal.

Nancy could tell that her younger brother was lying, so she nudged him a little and whispered, "Really, what's wrong?"

Now he didn't know if he should tell the entire truth to her, because...well...shit, they promised not to keep secrets from each other, but finding El...he wanted to do that on his own. If she needed anyone to find her, it was him. He knew it. "Just a shitty Halloween," he whispered back to her.

She looked a bit skeptical. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Shitty Halloween. Nothing more." She slowly nodded like their mother did before eating her food. He knew she probably doesn't buy it, but it was the best he could muster.

He was eating his breakfast quickly because he wanted to find El as soon as he can. He was practically itching to find her again. It's been nearly a year, he needed this...a lot. 

...

Not too soon, he finished his entire breakfast and grabbed his backpack from the floor, slinging it over his shoulder and saying to his family, "Bye." Now the entire family was concerned for him as he began walking to the garage door.

"Uh, well, have a good day-" Mrs. Wheeler shouted before Mike opened the door and closed it. That made them all want to know what was going on with him this morning.

He grabbed his bike from the garage, opened the doors leading to the driveway, ran out, sat on the seat of his bike, and rode away, not off to school though, to the woods. He had planned to skip school and ride around the woods for a cabin, the place El was hiding in. Once he finds her, he'll bring her to his home and introduce her to the guys again. Then, they can both live together happily with their lives. What can go wrong?

Well...there was the government.

But if they were looking for her, it'd be more obvious, so he had high hope that it wasn't going to be a problem.

He felt confident, smiling. When he finally entered into the woods, that began his search for Eleven.

* * *

Hopper had left and El was home alone, laying on her bed and looking at her clock. It's been an hour and Mike hasn't shown up, making her feel a little nervous. The woods was kind of a big place, she knew that well. She just hoped he would get there before Hop does. 

She let out a deep sigh before thinking that she should probably watch TV to pass the time. She stood up from her bed and went to the living room, sitting on the couch and facing the TV. She looked at the on button and used her power to switch it on. It was playing some sitcom, so she switched it. It played a commercial for a toy, so she switched that as well. It finally played a soap opera with a couple in it, so she stopped there.

The couple looked surprised to see each other again, walking closer and closer together.  _"Vincent..."_ the woman said, her face being of utter shock.

_"Molly..."_ the man said, looking happy to see her again.

She shook her head.  _"It's been months, Vincent. Months!"_

The man approached her and held her faces in his hands.  _"Well, I'm here right now. I'm not going anywhere."_

"I'm not going anywhere..." El repeated to herself, placing a hand on her chest and thinking she should say that to Mike when he comes.

_"Vincent..."_

_"I love you, very much, Molly."_ They then began kissing before starting to make out. The curly-haired girl looked a bit puzzled, since she never saw a make-out session before. But...she wondered if she could do that with Mike. Now she felt nervous at the thought, then wondered how it would feel to kiss him like that. She sighed before flipping the channel again.

* * *

It has been an hour and Mike hasn't seen a cabin so far, making him feel frustrated. "Where the hell are you...?" he muttered under his breath. Where the hell was the cabin El mentioned? Well, she did say the woods, but he still hasn't seen one. He decided to call out, "El?! Eleven?!" He heard nothing, making him sigh heavily. He didn't give up though, continuing to venture into the woods. "El?! EL?!"

* * *

It has been two hours now.

Two. Hours.

Bored out of her mind and getting more impatient, El stood up from the couch and approached the curtains. There was the first rule that she shouldn't open up the curtains, but Hopper wasn't here right now, so it didn't count. Besides, she opened them before, multiple times, to be specific. She finally did, trying to see if Mike was close.

He wasn't.

She sighed and closed them, now looking through another window in the cabin, then the one in her room. She didn't see him there either. She sighed once again before walking to the door. There was the second rule, only open the door when she hears Hopper's special knock. Then the third, never go outside, especially if it's day. Last night, she was out for the entire night, not on purpose though, because she lost track of time. Now, she was only going outside for a minute. Just a minute. Then she'll go back in and lock the door like nothing really happened.

So she unlocked the door with her power, opened it, and stepped outside. She scanned her eyes across the surroundings of the cabin. There was still no sign of him. She thought about shouting, but if the bad men were here...

Her eyes widened. Now she knew why Hopper said not to go out...

Especially if it was day.

They might see her.

She quickly looked around, breathing unevenly. She closed her eyes, trying to drown out her senses then and there to sense them. Thankfully, she got nothing, so she released a sigh of relief. She still hasn't sensed Mike though, making her frown. Where was he? Was he alright?

She let out a deep sigh and went back inside to try that out again.

* * *

Mike saw that he was reaching to the quarry, making him even more frustrated. He swore, these woods were like a maze. He looked down at his watch. It's been two and a half hours, making him groan. He knew he had to skip school, but his friends were probably worrying about him. El had to be worrying about him as well, since even though he was looking for her, it felt like a day. "God..." He wished it was easier to find her, like on Mirkwood last year.

He widened his eyes when he just realized what he thought.

Mirkwood...

Maybe she was there.

God, was he an idiot for not checking there.

He got on the dirt path the quarry had and rode his bike to where he knew Mirkwood was at.

* * *

_El got back into there again, the darkness, to see if Mike was alright. She looked around, hoping to see him. For half a minute, she didn't, making her worry even more. But then, suddenly, she heard something rippling the water from her left. She looked to her left and saw him._

_Mike._

_He was riding his bike, riding right past her. As she saw him go, she thought about how focused he looked and how fast he was riding. She began to smile because she thought..._

_...that he was really looking for her._

_"Mike..."_

* * *

The sun began to set and Mike JUST arrived to Mirkwood. He forgot how long it was to get to Mirkwood, especially from the quarry. Jesus...

He stopped for a second to look around, just so there was nobody around, just in case. When the coast was clear, he rode back into the woods. "Eleven?!" he shouted out.

* * *

El was now laying on the couch again, watching TV. So many hours...was he lost? She knew how that felt last year, running away from the bad men when Benny got killed, before he, Dustin, and Lucas found her. Jeez...it's only been 354 days, but she remembered all that happened last year like it happened the day before. The first meeting, the makeover, the quarrel...the kiss...the look on Mike's face when she told him goodbye.

She frowned. That face always broke her heart every time she thought about it. It was like she was going to die, like he was going to lose her.

Honestly, she thought so as well before seeing that she was in the Upside Down instead.

And when she escaped and saw Mike through the window...his face there broke her heart every time she thought of it as well. She was there...but she wasn't. She couldn't be there any longer because of those bad men. If they weren't there...then they'd be back together again.

Suddenly, she heard a muffled yell, breaking out of her thoughts. She looked confused, sitting up from the couch and looking at the direction the yelling came from. She then stood up and walked towards the window, reopening the curtains. She narrowed her eyes until she can see someone riding towards her, shouting...

"EL?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

She gasped, looking overjoyed to finally see him again and feeling the tears coming into her eyes. He finally made it! He finally came!

Without any second thought, she unlocked the door and swung it open, running outside and shouting, "Mike!"

...

When he saw the cabin, he saw her open the door and run towards him, calling out his name. He looked overjoyed as well, more than overjoyed, feeling like crying as well. There she was...after all this time...

He stopped his bike and got off of it, letting it fall as he ran to her. "El!" he shouted to her.

Finally, when they got close, they instantly embraced each other, crying and smiling and holding each other tightly like they were never going to let go of each other. "El...it's you...it's really you..." Mike said, his voice shaky but full of joy and relief.

"Mike...I'm so happy to see you again..." El replied, her voice being the same. The two kept embracing each other, for what felt like a century.


	2. The Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and El go back to the cabin to talk about why they couldn't reach each other before Hopper comes back...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
> 
> *EDIT OF 3/20/18: Replaced the word "lover" with something else because neumann had a good point about using the words.*

During their long embrace, Mike put a hand on the back of El's head, surprised when he actually felt hair there. He broke it, leaving a bit confused before she noticed him running his fingers through her curls. "El, your hair..." he murmured.

She smiled and giggled. "It's curly," she stated.

He smiled back at her. "It looks great, El." He then placed his hands on her shoulders. "You look great, El."

Her smile widened. "You look great too, Mike." She then held his hand and brought him inside of the cabin. "This is the cabin."

He looked around, asking, "So this is where you were, all this time?"

"Yes," she replied, nodding.

"Kinda cozy, I guess."

She nodded again. "Cozy."

"But there's not really much to do." He looked at the TV. "There's the TV..." He looked around once again. "Nothing else, huh?" She only shook her head at him. "You must get bored easily or something."

She nodded again, repeating, "Yes."

"Why didn't you just go somewhere else, El? Like to my home?"

She sighed, walking to the couch and sitting on it. He followed suit. "I did...when I escaped."

His eyes widened a little. "Escape?"

"From the Upside Down." His eyes widened more. "I saw you that night, but there were people there."

"People?" Suddenly, she knew what she was talking about. "You mean, the same night you killed the Demogorgon?" She looked at him and nodded. He knew it! He knew he saw her that night! It was THAT night that he decided to try and communicate with her for 353 days. "So...you hid away from them?" She nodded. "Then...you found this cabin?"

Now she shook her head. "I lived outside in the woods for some days...then he found me."

Mike looked puzzled. "'He?'"

She nodded once again. "Hopper."

He looked very shocked at this. HOPPER found her?! "Hopper?!" She nodded. He then stood up and paced around. The man would visit him sometimes to help him get over El and cope with her loss-her "loss"...

"That son of a bitch..." he muttered angrily under his breath.

El looked worried and got up to walk to him. "Mike..."

"He told me you were gone, GONE! All this time, he told me that, but then..."

"Mike." She placed a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her.

"He could have told me El! I wouldn't tell anyone else! The rest of the Party too!"

She sighed, knowing what he said was true, at least, to her. "I know."

"Why...why did he do that, El?"

"To...protect me."

He huffed and looked away in disbelief. "To protect you...I get that, but he shouldn't lie to my face about it!" He was getting very angry at the fact that this man couldn't trust him to keep a secret. 

"I know." He looked at her again, seeing that she was looking just as upset as he was. "He keeps telling me I can see you...for 326 days." He looked shocked.

"He lied to you too?"

She nodded. "So I got out last night..."

"...as Kelly."

She nodded once again. "But I wasn't supposed to. I broke the rules."

"Rules?"

"Yes, the 'Don't Be Stupid' rules: Don't open the curtains, open the door when I hear Hopper knock, and never go out." He understood that, but still... "He didn't like what I did last night."

His eyes widened. "Did you tell him..." He trailed off when she shook her head, feeling a bit relieved.

"We argued when I got back. He was very angry...I was too." He began to feel sorry for her. "But after that, I reached you." She began to smile a little. "And you're here." She placed a hand on his cheek. "I'm glad you're here, Mike." She looked like she was going to cry, but of joy. To be honest, he felt like that too, smiling back at her.

"I'm glad I can see you again, El." He then pulled her to him and kissed her, catching her by surprise. It has been a long time since they've kissed, but now, it felt so satisfying.

The curly-haired girl closed her eyes and kissed him back. El instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and Mike wrapped his arms around her waist. They felt warm and thrilled by the kissing.

After a few seconds, they pulled back, the two exchanging smiles before embracing again. At that moment, they were very happy and thought of nothing else.

That was, until they both heard a certain knock on the door. Mike looked at it in surprise, but El instantly looked aghast when she recognized that knock.

Hopper was back...but it wasn't eight.

Seeing the look on her face, Mike began to share the same expression, realizing he was at the door. "Shit!" he shouted in a whisper.

She turned to him and whispered back, "Hide! Quick!" He nodded as he rushed towards her bedroom. He saw her bed and instantly crawled under it, the sheets blocking view of him. His heart began pounding, fearing not only for himself getting caught, but El getting in trouble again.

Meanwhile, she opened the door with her powers and he entered in. She tried to look normal and smiled at him. His face didn't move, however, making her smile disappear. She then noticed that right next to him, he was carrying...

Mike's bike.

Her eyes widened at the sight of that. "Kid, we need to talk," he said to her in a stern voice as he took off his hat and placed it on top of the coat rack. He closed the door, threw the bike on the ground towards her room, then removed his coat to hang on the rack.

Mike heard the sound of his bike rattling, making him shocked that he forgot to hide it. He cursed under his breath quietly.

"What the hell is this?" She didn't answer, looking at the bike in complete shock. "What did I tell you about answering him?" She looked up at him in anger. "What the hell did we even talk about last night?!" She still looked angered at him, clenching her fists. "'Friends don't lie.' Isn't that your bullshit saying?!" She still got out no answer. But she didn't need to, because she knew that he knew that Mike was here.

He let out a heavy sigh and began to walk. "Where is he?" In mere seconds, she stood in front of him, blocking his path.

"He's gone," she replied sharply.

He gave her a more skeptical and sharper glare. "Where is he, Eleven?"

That didn't make her flinch. "He's. Gone."

He scoffed. "If he really is, then let me through." He side-stepped, but so did she. He side-stepped in another direction, but she did that as well. He scoffed again. "Get out of my way."

"No."

"Why can't you, kid? Because Mike's not really gone? I thought you said he was." She felt like she was at a loss, but she needed to win this somehow. Hopper heavily sighed again, looking distressed. "Two days, two GODDAMN days you've broken the rules, El!! Do you know what that means?!" His yelling brought the tears to her eyes, making her feel more tense than before. "Do you know how much danger you put US in?! Hell, you even put HIM in danger! Do you know that, kid?!" Her breath became shaky and heavy as she began to cry.

Mike felt awfully tense hearing this. He never even argued with his parents like this! But danger? He got that, since there were the Labs, but they were inactive...he thought...

"You!" El pointed at him angrily. "YOU told me that I can go, that I can see him, but I NEVER DO!! NOTHING EVER HAPPENS!!!"

"NOTHING HAPPENS AND YOU STAY SAFE, OKAY?!" He kicked the bike hard, making her shoot back in shock. That even scared Mike too, even though he was in hiding. The man rubbed his face, holding back his tears.

El still lashed at him, "You are a LIAR!!"

"I am NOT a LIAR!!" He got closer to her. "I am a PROTECTOR, a FEEDER, and a TEACHER!! All I asked of you was to follow three simple rules and guess what? You BROKE them, TWICE!! YOU CAN'T EVEN FOLLOW THREE DAMN RULES WITH A SECOND CHANCE!!!" She shook at how menacing and loud his voice was, sniffling and crying more. "Now get out of my way!" He practically shoved her away and walked to El's room. Mike could hear the footsteps, his anxiety and fear increasing a lot. He sounded VERY pissed off...he could get more pissed off when he actually sees him.

However, El wouldn't let up. She ran to the door to her bedroom, shoved him out of the way, and stood in front of it, holding a tight grip on the handle. She looked up at the man that towered her, seeing his furious face. "Let me in," he demanded coldly. She shook her head. "LET ME IN THERE!" She tensed up at that, but still didn't move. He sighed once more as he stated, "You know what? Fine. Be that way, 'cause you're grounded!!" That broke her heart, as well as Mike's.

The man then approached the fridge. "Guess what that means, kid. No more Eggos..." The two kids heard him open it up and throw the boxes on the ground. That broke her heart more, but she could deal with it. But then he approached the TV. "And no TV for two weeks!" Her eyes widened at that. No more TV? There was no way...she needed it!

As he grabbed the cart the TV was on, he tried to move it, but then realized it was stuck in place. He looked at her and saw that she was keeping it still, her nose bleeding. "Knock it off, let go." She shook her head at him. He tried to move it again, but it was still stuck in place. He then looked at her again. "Okay, then a month." He tried to move it a third time, but it was still stuck. Impatient, he shouted to her, "Let go!" She shook her head once again. "Then a month and a half!"

"No!" she shouted back.

Hopper looked completely baffled, but thought of something. "Then congratulations, kid. You went from no TV for a month and a half to NO TV AT ALL!!" He then yanked the cords out of the TV, permanently destroying them.

She gasped and yelled, "NO!!" Without a second thought, she walked to it and checked it to see if she could still fix it in some way...

Mike couldn't believe this. Did Hopper really break the TV?! Not even his parents would do that!! That would be WORSE than giving away the Atari!!

"You have to learn that there are consequences to your actions," Hopper continued as he walked to the door to her bedroom. 

She turned to him and shouted from the top of her lungs, " _YOU_ ARE JUST LIKE PAPA!!!"

Even Mike felt his blood run cold from hearing that. "Holy shit..." he muttered.

He rubbed his face in frustration again. "Really? I'm JUST like that crazy son of a bitch? You wanna go back to the lab then?" Both her and Mike looked terrified at that statement. "One call, I can do it."

The dark-haired boy shook his head. "No..." He couldn't imagine her going back there...and this son of a bitch was willing to do it? Bring back her torture...?

"I hate you!" El shouted to him.

"Yeah, I'm not that crazy about you either, kid. You wanna know why? Because you're a BRAT." She had no idea what that meant, but it made her angrier. "How about that be your word of the day, brat?" He then got his hand on the doorknob and began opening the door. She instantly saw this and immediately slammed the door, making him and her lover tense up at the noise. The man tried turning the doorknob, but like the cart, it wouldn't budge. He turned to her again, really furious this time as he saw her focused on the knob. "You just NEVER LEARN!!!"

She continued to cry when she decided to throw anything she could at him with her powers. She first threw a lamp at him, the man ducking from it and looking at her in utter shock when it shattered. "What the hell is wrong with you...?" She then threw books at him, steering him away from the door. Just enough to make her storm there, but not before tipping the bookshelf down, opening the door, and closing it right behind her with a wave of her hand.

Inside, both her and Mike could hear him trying to open the door, though it was impossible with her. "OPEN THE DOOR!!" he yelled through it. "OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!!!" She then sat at a corner and cried some more. The freckled boy peeked under the sheets and saw her like that, making him feel disheartened.

"El..." he mouthed out, feeling like he was going to cry.

"YOU WANNA GO OUT IN THE WORLD?! THEN GROW THE HELL UP!!! YOU HEAR ME?!? GROW THE HELL UP!!!" She finally shrieked, causing all the windows and glass to shatter into pieces. Mike stopped peeking under the sheets and shielded his eyes from the glass. Several seconds later, he could hear El sobbing, making him feel more heartbroken...

And more angered at Hopper.

...

Some time passed. Mike and El could feel the breeze come into the room. Even though he wanted to come out and comfort El, she told him not to come out unless Hopper was asleep. So he stayed there, under the bed, for God knows how long. His friends could be worrying about him.

Oh shit...that's right...

His friends.

He skipped school the entire day. Who knows what they thought when they clearly saw his absence? His parents might worry about him too. He hasn't even gone home yet.

The sheets moving snapped Mike out of his thoughts, seeing the curly-haired girl's face once more. Her nose was still red as well as her eyes. "It's okay now," she whispered to him before sniffing. He nodded and crawled out of the underside of the bed. When he stood up, he looked at her face again, feeling like his heart dropped. He frowned and pulled her in a hug, the girl accepting it and crying and sobbing a little more in to his chest. He gently stroked her hair to comfort her more.

God, Hopper was a complete asshole. He took things WAY too far, worse than his own parents. He kept talking bad to El, he broke the TV, he made her CRY. That was enough to piss him off. He would never trust that son of a bitch ever again.

"Mike..." El whimpered out, muffled since it was said on his chest.

He looked down at her. "Yes, El?" he whispered.

She looked up at him, still teary-eyed. "Can you stay with me? I don't want to sleep alone now." He thought about that for half a minute. He missed school and he hasn't gone home yet...

But it wasn't like he was gone for a week.

Besides, El needed him, especially right now.

He nodded at her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Of course, El." She smiled back at him as they continued to hug more.

After that, they laid down on her bed, cuddling next to each other. They were still in their clothes, but they didn't care. They needed to wind down, even if it meant sleeping all that distress away. Finally, they both dozed off, holding each other and never letting go.


	3. The Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the morning, Mike comes up with a plan to handle the situation he and El were in and follow it, but not before it doesn't go the way he wanted it to, making him improvise. El stays in the cabin and discovers something absolutely shocking to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Loud banging from the outside of the room managed to make both Mike and El stir. They both looked at the door with heavy-lidded eyes, hearing the banging again. It wasn't on the door though. They assumed Hopper was up and fixing the windows. Why wouldn't he? It was a secluded spot, after all.

They both then looked at each other, feeling happy that they were there. "Morning, El," Mike whispered to her.

"Morning, Mike," she whispered back.

They both looked at the door again, still hearing the banging. "Should I go?" The curly-haired girl shook her head.

"He'll know." Though it was clear that he did...

The banging stopped, then Hopper's footsteps came to the door. Instantly, they both tensed up at that, but El knew what to do immediately. She locked the door with her powers just as he was about to open it. They both heard him sigh and say, "Hey, kid?" The girl didn't respond, despite his apologetic voice, while Mike kept quiet. "Listen...um...about last night..." She looked away and held Mike's hand. He gently squeezed it for comfort. The man then said in a different tone, "Clean this place up by the time I get back, then I'll consider fixing the TV, alright?" His footsteps then moved away from the door before they both heard Mike's bike being picked up. "And Mike, I'm going to put this in my car. I expect you to come with me, you hear?" The two could feel their blood running cold from hearing him acknowledge his presence. They then heard him finally get out of the cabin.

The freckled boy released a deep sigh, rubbing his face in frustration. He looked at the girl he cared about, seeing her looking sad and guilty. He squeezed her hand again and said, "El..."

"I'm sorry, Mike," she replied to him.

"Sorry? What for?"

She looked at him, frowning. "I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"The argument?" She nodded while he shook his head. "That's alright, I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."

She took a deep breath and looked away from him a little. "I know, but..." She gulped, looking like she was going to cry. Mike gave her a hug to prevent that.

"El...El, it's alright, I promise."

She shook her head, sniffing. "No..." He let go of her and looked surprised that she replied with that. "I put you in danger...by telling you to come." She looked up at him with teary eyes. "What if they find me? What if they hurt you, Mike?"

He knew she was talking about the Department of Energy. He sighed and answered, "Maybe they won't. Maybe they don't know you're here."

"H-how...?"

"I mean, look at where you are. You're in the middle of the woods, alone, with Hopper. He must take like some secret path to here or something. I mean, I've been looking for this place almost all day yesterday."

She looked around. It was quiet here and until last night, she sensed nor spotted anybody else. Maybe he was right. Maybe they don't know where she is, that way, she won't be hurt and neither will Mike.

"Hey." She looked back at him again. "I'll come back for you, okay? I'll tell Hopper to drop me off at school, then I'll tell my parents over the phone that I'll be at Will's for a sleepover. And then I'll tell Dustin and Lucas about you, Will too, and maybe I'll come back with them. Is that alright?"

She did like the sound of Lucas and Dustin also coming back, along with Will, the boy she found last year. So she nodded again and he smiled at her. "Stay safe, alright? Don't leave here until I come back, okay?" She nodded again as she gave him a hug.

"You stay safe too."

He hugged her back. "I promise, El. Don't worry." She smiled as they broke the hug and Mike got off of the bed, walking to the door and opening it, but he stopped and looked at El for one last time. The two locked eyes, smiling at each other. After a minute, he exited the room and closed the door. He then left the cabin. The telekinetic girl felt a little better than she did before. She should probably look for a way to fix the TV first, since she thought it was possible of her to do so.

...

When Mike got outside, he saw Hopper inside his car, barely seeing his bike sitting in the trunk. He and Hopper exchanged glances before the boy finally approached the car, going into the passenger's seat and putting on the seat belt. He noticed that that the car was already running. Hopper made a three-point turn before finally leaving the woods. 

While driving out of the woods, he asked Mike, "Do your parents know you're out here?" He only shook his head, not giving him eye contact. "Your friends?" He shook his head again. He sighed once again. 

"Just drop me off at school," he replied to him.

"And not see your parents?"

"I can just call my mom at school. I'll tell her that I was staying over at a friend's house and I forgot to tell her."

He sighed once again as he finally got on the road. "Listen, kid. I'll drop you off somewhere near the school. You're not telling anybody about what you did yesterday, not even your friends."

The boy looked baffled at him. "What?! Why?!"

He shook his head. "No one else needs to know that she's alive and where she is."

"You think my friends can't be trusted to keep a secret?!"

"The more kids going into the woods, the more curious the government is going to be and when they decide to investigate, what do you think is going to happen?!" Mike felt cold when he said it so sharply like that. "You will never see her again if you tell your friends, kid-I will never see her again, SHE will never see you again. You keep this to yourself and nothing bad will happen, understand?" 

Honestly, he felt so pissed. He was mad at him the night before for yelling at El, this was no exception. At the same time, he kind of did have a lingering feeling that maybe the Department of Energy IS still active on searching for Eleven and maybe they're discreet about it, like spies...

"I need an answer, kid."

He nodded, muttering, "Sure."

"I don't need a 'sure', I need a 'yes'."

He huffed and said, "Yes, sir." They then remained quiet for a couple of minutes, Mike looking out the window. He was in such a sour mood right now that honestly, he didn't feel like going to school. He just needed some time to himself. Plus, his friends didn't really like it whenever he becomes pouty...oh, and Max was annoying as hell, so she'll just make him feel worse. "Actually, can you just drop me off at my house?"

There was a few seconds of silence. "I can drop you off at the entrance of your neighborhood."

"That's fine." He knew his way around it anyway.

"Ya mind telling me where to go?"

He sighed and answered, "Next light, turn left."

...

Hopper finally stopped the car at the entrance of Mike's neighborhood, making the boy unbuckle himself. Hopper gave him the keys and he took them, getting out of the car and going to the trunk. He used the keys to open it and got his bike out of there. He closed it and walked with his bike to Hopper's side, handing him the keys. He then walked away from him without another word and got on his bike, riding to his home.

...

When his home was on his sight, he saw that both of his parents' cars are gone, making him sigh in relief. He's got some time to pack up and meet with El again, with bad news.

He rode downwards to the level his basement was at. He parked his bike near the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He sighed, knowing that his parents always lock everything before leaving. Thankfully, he got a key his parents gave him in case neither of them were home. He got it out of his pocket and used it to open the door. He finally got inside, closing the door behind him. He took a deep breath. Now, he had to get some things ready before departing to see her again.

He's only got so much time until his mom comes back, so he had to be quick.

...

He changed, first of all. No way was he going back there in yesterday's clothes.

He got his backpack and filled it with toys he hasn't given away yet for her to play with. He also packed a pair of PJs and a new set of clothes in case he spends the night with her.

He then got out Eggos from the refrigerator and toasted two of them in a toaster before placing them inside a plastic bag, which was put in his backpack.

He also found some sticky notes he had in his room and wrote for his parents:

_Mom, Dad,  
__Yesterday, I slept over at Will's. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys before. I'll continue sleeping over with him for tonight and will come home tomorrow. I'll stay safe._  
-Mike

He stuck that on the refrigerator wall and sighed in relief. He looked at the nearest clock. It was a quarter after eleven.

Wow, that fast?

Since his mother and Holly wasn't here right now, it wouldn't kill him to relax a little. He sat on his father's La-Z-Boy after getting the remote for the TV. He turned it on and saw a commercial for The Terminator playing. He WOULD watch it if his parents let him, but they probably will never do...

...

Some time passed, Mike didn't know how much, but just enough to leave now. He didn't how to tell El that not everything went as planned. Maybe she'll forgive him, she always did. He got up and put his backpack on when he suddenly heard the garage door open. He was stiff, because he knew what that meant.

His mother and Holly were home.

He swore under his breath, turned off the TV, and quickly ran down in the basement. He then ran out the door of the basement and got his bike. He slowly walked up to the front yard, making sure his mother and baby sister weren't outside. He then heard the garage door closing, making him sigh in relief as he finally go on the front yard, got on his bike, and rode on to go back to El. He hoped he wouldn't get lost again.

* * *

Eleven had cleaned up the cabin after giving up on trying to fix the TV. She did stumble upon a trapdoor and got a box filled with information on Hawkins Lab. One of the folders talked about Terry Ives and her lawsuit against the Lab for taking her daughter, Jane. She did find a picture of her and Brenner, making her think that perhaps she was her mother, despite what Hopper told her before. So she went into the darkness and searched for her. She found her...but then she lost her...

"MAMA?!" she cried out, her nose bleeding. "MAMAAA?!?" She removed the blindfold off of her eyes, revealing her tears and red eyes. "Mama...?" She began to sob, covering her face and continuing to cry. She hadn't felt so distraught in a long time. She lost her mother, just like that...

* * *

Fortunately, Mike managed to find the cabin again and rode to it. For safe measure, he parked his bike against the back of the cabin so he won't get caught again. He then ran to the front door with his backpack. As he was about to knock the door, he could hear El...sobbing. His heart instantly dropped at the sound of that. Was she thinking about last night again?

Instead of knocking, he asked, "El?"

* * *

The girl stopped crying and sobbing and looked at the door. Mike was here? Already? "Are you alright?" she heard him ask through the door. She sighed heavily and sniffled, knowing that she wasn't. She looked at the door and unlocked it for him, wiping her nose afterwards.

* * *

When he heard the door completely unlock, he went inside and closed the door behind him, seeing her tears, red eyes, red nose...just like what she looked like last night.

Without a second thought, he dropped his backpack to the ground and ran to gave El a comforting hug. She hugged him back, crying onto his shoulder. He whispered to her, "El, it's okay, it's alright, I'm here..." Like their embrace yesterday, their hug lasted for a long time.

...

"You found your mom?" Mike asked her later when they stopped hugging and El told him about what she discovered earlier. They both sat next to each other in front of the couch.

She nodded as she handed him the picture of Brenner and Terry, pointing at the woman. "Her," she replied, sniffing a little.

"Is she...alright?"

She sighed heavily again, bringing her knees up to her face. "I lost her."

"Lost her?"

"I saw her...she called me Jane...then I tried to touch her, but she was gone." She sniffled again. "Gone..."

He immediately placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "El, it's okay, she's not gone. You've seen her. That means she's out there somewhere."

He was right, she knew that, so she nodded once again. "Right."

"Does this stuff tell you where she is?" He then looked at the folder and looked through the papers. She shook her head, but looked over to find anything that looked like an address. Both had no luck, Mike closing the folder and sighing. "Does Hopper have a phone book, by any chance?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "Phone book?"

"It's this big yellow book with people's phone numbers and addresses in them. Have you seen him with a big yellow book?" She had to think about that. A big yellow book...a big yellow book...

She sniffed and thought about a place. She pointed at the bookshelf. "There..." They both stood up and looked through it. Mike looked at the shelves while El looked through the cabinets. She saw a big yellow book, so she pulled it out and asked, "This?" The freckled boy looked and saw it, nodding.

"Yeah." She handed it to him as he opened it. "Terry Ives..." he murmured to himself as he got to the "Residence" section of the book and looked for "Ives". She looked over him trying to find it again. After a couple of minutes, he finally found it and pointed at it. "Ives." He then looked to see two names. "Rebecca and Terry." While he looked confused, El's eyes widened at the mention of "Rebecca". "Who's Rebecca?"

"The papers." He looked at her. "Talked about Mama's sister, Rebecca, for a little bit."

"She lives with her sister?" She shrugged. "Well, this is our best hope." He then saw their address. "515 Larrabee..." He sighed, closing the book and putting it back in the cabinet. "I don't know where that is..."

"Maybe it's around here?" He only answered with a shrug, making her sigh. At least they found her. Now she thought of visiting her, after all these years. She also thought that maybe... "Can you come with me?" He gave her a confused look. "To see her?"

He thought about that for a bit. He did tell his mom that he'll be gone for the night and come back tomorrow. So he nodded at her. "Yeah, of course. You wanna go right now?"

She shook her head. "Tomorrow."

His eyes widened. "Tomorrow?"

She nodded once again. "Don't feel good to be out right now." He sighed. He did see her completely broken down. She needed some rest, he would know. Plus, it wasn't like he had to be back home tomorrow morning. He still had school, which was not that important to him right now.

"Okay. I'll stay here, since I told my mom I'll be staying at a friend's overnight."

She nodded once more before asking, "Where are they?"

"Who?"

"Lucas, Dustin, Will?"

Right...

He let out a deep sigh and said, "About that...Hopper said I couldn't tell them about you."

She looked baffled. "What?"

"I know, it's stupid, but..." He sat down, his back against the bookshelf. His friend followed suit. "I didn't go to school because I was so upset and they were hanging out with Max-"

"Max?"

"This new girl at our school. Lucas and Dustin like her. Will didn't mind her either." He scoffed. "They treat her like she's so special, because she happens to play videogames and skateboard."

"Video...games? Skateboard?"

"Video game's the stuff you play on a system or at the arcade, the place where a lot of games are. And skateboarding is when you ride on a board with wheels. Boys usually do all that kind of stuff."

"Do you?"

"I play games, but I don't skateboard." She nodded as he sighed again. "They treat her like she's your replacement or something and I know no one could replace you, El. No one." She smiled at that, feeling flattered and holding his hand. He smiled at her too before it disappeared. "Max just annoys me because of that, so I didn't go to school." He scoffed again. "Lucas and Dustin probably have a crush on her."

"A crush?"

His face did heat up when she said that, since...well... "Having a crush on someone is like...caring about them a lot, thinking they look good, wanting to be their friend, more than their friend actually."

She looked surprised when he said that. "More than...a friend?"

He nodded, squeezing her hand. "Yeah..."

"Who is someone that's...more than a friend?" She had to know, since what he described as having a crush on someone...mirrored what she felt about him.

"A...girlfriend...or a boyfriend."

Those words rung like bells inside of her head. Girlfriend...and boyfriend...did that mean... "Are you my boyfriend, Mike?" She gave him a warm smile.

His face instantly turned red at that question. God, he hadn't...well...maybe... "I don't know-I mean..." Her smile disappeared when he said that. "I care about you a lot, I think you look good, I'm your friend..." That fit his description of having a crush. He knew he did, but he never said it out loud, not even to El. "I do want you to become my girlfriend, El." Her smile reappeared again. Her smile always warmed his heart. "If that's alright with you?"

She instantly nodded. "Yes!" She then hugged him. "I want to be your girlfriend, Mike!" He hugged her back. Both of them, at this moment, forgot about their troubles and enjoyed the fact that they were official now. They were officially girlfriend and boyfriend and they both loved it. 

...

The entire day, the two either talked about things, watched TV, ate food Mike brought, or played with the things Mike also brought. It was night now and both were surprised that Hopper hasn't come back yet. However, they were both happy about that, since neither of them liked him anyway. After a little while, they both decided to go to sleep. After they separately changed into their pajamas in the bathroom, in case Hopper did come back, El locked the door to her room so they wouldn't be caught. They then slept on her bed together, cuddling like they did the night before.

...

It was a new day and Mike was the second to wake up. He saw El dressed in a gray long-sleeved shirt with a brown coat over it, overalls, and sneakers, sitting right next to him and holding his hand. He smiled and sat up. "Hey, El," he greeted her.

"Hey, Mike," she greeted back. "I made breakfast."

He nodded. "I'll come eat in a sec. I need to change."

She nodded back. "Okay." She leaned in to kiss him, so they gave each other a peck before she got off the bed and exited the room, closing the door. He couldn't help but grin like an idiot. He just couldn't believe it. He never thought he would ever get a girlfriend. Now, he's got the perfect one and nothing will change that.

He got up from his bed and changed into a new set of clothes he packed.


	4. The Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After breakfast, Mike and El pay Terry Ives a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter (pretty lengthy this time)! Enjoy!

The two ate scrambled eggs El had made since Hopper confiscated the Eggos. They both also had orange juice. If Mike were being honest with himself...the eggs were too mushy. He still ate it though because El made it and she tried. It wasn't like he was any better anyway.

The curly-haired girl saw the look her boyfriend had on his face while eating it, so she stopped eating her eggs and looked at him. "Mike?" she asked, making him look up at her. "Are the eggs bad?"

He instantly shook his head. "Uh, no, no..." he answered.

She frowned at him, knowing that he was lying. "Mike, friends don't lie."

Right...yeah...they were girlfriend and boyfriend now, but even so, that still applies. He sighed, finally saying, "You made the eggs too mushy. You said Hopper taught you how to make eggs, right?"

She nodded. "Wasn't perfect. I hope to make better eggs."

He gave her a reassuring look. "People say that practice makes perfect."

She smiled at him. "Practice makes perfect."

He smiled back at her. "Right." He then thought of something he should have asked her before, so he asked, "El?" She looked up at him, chewing her eggs. "Your real name's Jane, right?" She nodded. "Do you want me to call you Jane, since that's your actual name and all?" She never really thought about that. However, there was something about him calling her "El" that she absolutely loved. She just didn't quite know what it is.

She shook her head. "El is fine," she answered.

"Really?"

She nodded. "Really."

He smiled at her. "Okay, cool."

She smiled back at him. "Cool." They both got hit by some déjà-vu, remembering back to last year, when they were walking in the forest with Dustin and Lucas. Man, did that feel like yesterday...

...

When they finished breakfast, they both got up and washed the dishes and silverware, putting them in the sink. "So, you know how we're going to find 515 Larrabee?" Mike asked El. She looked up at him and shook her head. He sighed. "Could you track it or something?"

"I can try," she said before closing her eyes and trying to track her mother. After a moment, she opened her eyes and nodded. "I know now."

He smiled at her. "Great. Should we go now?"

She was nervous about this, but she needed to be ready, so she took a deep breath to ease herself. "Let's go."

...

They both got outside and the boy went to the back of the cabin to get his bike. He went to El with it and got on it, the girl following suit. They then rode off to find the address. But not before El looked back at the cabin. She thought...what if Hopper came back and didn't see her there? They had to come back before it gets dark, just in case.

...

Not too long after their departure, El was telling him the directions to 515 Larrabee before they both saw a mail box. He rode to it and stopped, he and El reading the sign on it:

_Ives  
515 Larrabee_

They both smiled, relieved that they finally found it. "We're here!" Mike said happily before he and El biked down the path to the house.

They shortly see it, being an old-looking blue and red home. He stopped the bike, the two of them getting off it as he kept it up with a kickstand. They continued looking at it for a bit, Mike asking, "Are you ready, El?" He heard nothing from her, making him look at her and seeing her nervous face. He frowned and held her hand. "Hey." She now looked at him. "It's going to be fine. You're finally going to see your mom after a long time. Whatever happens, I'll be here, right next to you. I'm not going anywhere."

He said it...just like the man in that one show she watched.

She smiled at him, replying with, "Okay." He smiled back at her before they both faced the house and walked up to the door. Before he could even ask, El knocked on the door. They both waited for an answer, but got nothing.

"Maybe they didn't hear you because...they're not near the door," Mike stated. "I'll ring the doorbell." She nodded as he pressed the doorbell, both of them hearing a bell from inside.

"Go away! I'm not interested!" shouted a woman rather bitterly.

The two tensed up a little when they heard that. "Was that your mom?"

El shook her head. "Doesn't sound like her. Could be Becky." She then knocked on the door again.

"I said go away!" the woman shouted again.

Mike sighed and replied through the door, "We need to see you! It's urgent!"

They both heard footsteps storming towards the door and it opening, though it was restricted by a lock. They both saw a blonde woman's brown eyes look at them. "Listen, I don't care about your stupid school fundraiser," she replied in her bitter tone.

Both looked puzzled. "Fundraiser?" asked the curly-haired girl.

"Or your religious mumbo-jumbo. Whatever ya kids are sellin', I ain't buyin', alright?" Before Mike could rebut her statement, she slammed the door on them, making them tense up again as they heard her walk away.

Not like this was going to be easy, but they couldn't stop here. Now he knocked on the door and yelled through it, "We're not selling anything! We just want to see..." He trailed off as they heard the storming footsteps come back as she opened the locked door again.

"Listen, if you kids don't get outta here in the next minute, I'll call the damn cops on you! Understand?!" They both had wide eyes, not answering due to her intimidating demeanor. She then slammed the door, but stood in front of it to make sure they would leave.

The freckled boy sighed again, placing a hand on his temple and muttering, "Great..."

However, his girlfriend wouldn't let up.

She tilted her head down and stared at the door. While Becky gave her a weird look, she saw that the lock on the door was unlocking...without her touching it, shocking her before it finally opened. Her nose bled, Mike looking at her and remembering that she has powers.

"I want to see Mama," she said to her. Mike looked at the woman, looking baffled beyond belief as she looked at him. He gave her a gesture that told her to do what she said.

She let out a deep sigh as she looked at the girl. "Your mom?"

"Terry Ives," the dark-haired boy replied to her. Her eyes widened in surprise, but then she gestured the two to come in. They did and she closed the door.

As they followed Becky through the small hallway, they could hear the TV not too far from them. The short-haired woman then stood at a doorway, looking rather solemn at them as she moved her head to point at her. They both entered into the room to see Terry, sitting on a rocking chair and watching a game show with an apathetic face. They couldn't believe it, especially El.

Mike let go of her hand, making her look at him again. He gestured her to go to her, so she looked back at her mother and walked towards her. They both could hear her mutter things like, "Rainbow. Three to the right, four to the left..."

"Mama?" El asked her, beginning to look sentimental.

Terry's eyes were still glued to the television like she wasn't there. "Breathe. Sunflower. Rainbow. Three to the right, four to the left."

"Mama, can you hear me...?" She felt the need to cry, but held herself back from it.

Meanwhile, Mike looked rather worried. Why wasn't her mother responding, not even looking at her? Her own daughter was home after so many years. Did she not recognize her or something?

El knelt before her mother, saying, "Mama, it's me...Jane." She then held her hand. "I'm here now." Terry moved her head and looked at her daughter for a little bit, not saying anything. The telekinetic girl could feel a flurry of different emotions right now, seeing her mom look at her.

However, her mother's face still looked apathetic and she still continued saying, "Breathe. Sunflower. Rainbow. Four-fifty." El looked completely baffled. She saw her, she called her by her name. Why was she acting like this now?

Mike's worried expression amplified, thinking that something was wrong with her, wrong in the head. He knew about this. He looked at a now distraught Becky and asked, "Why is she like this?" She looked at him, flashing her distraught face towards him.

The girl also looked back at her and asked her, "Is something wrong with Mama?" She then looked at her, now trying not to cry as she covered her mouth. They both knew from that it had to be serious...

...

The two kids were now sitting at a dinner table with Becky, El looking at her mother just sitting there and watching TV while Mike was sitting next to her, holding her hand again as he looked at her too. "Hey," Becky said to the two of them, Mike the only one to shift his focus to her. "I need you two to help me understand a little better, okay?"

He nodded at her. "Yeah, sure," he answered as he tightened his hold on El's hand. "El."

She looked at him with teary eyes, making him feel sad. She then looked at Becky, the woman sighing once more. "Can ya tell me where you're from, exactly? Where you've been all this time?" The girl only sniffed, holding her boyfriend's hand tighter and not answering.

He whispered to her, "Should I or..." She let out a deep sigh, giving him a slight nod. He looked at her aunt and answered, "She's from Hawkins Lab. She was kept there and...experimented on." Becky sniffed and rubbed her face, making him feel just as depressed as these two. "Until last year." She looked up at him. "She escaped and...my friends and I found her and...she stayed at my home."

The woman sniffled again and nodded, trying to process all that was said to her since she was told otherwise before. "Okay..." She took a deep breath. "A policeman and a woman were looking for her last year." They both looked shocked to hear that, knowing it was Hopper and possibly Joyce. "Were you...hiding her or something?"

He frowned and nodded at her. "You could say that...but it was because those people in the lab were looking for her and they were dangerous."

"Strange, they didn't look like scientists." They weren't, Mike and El knew that for sure. They both heard her mutter something under her breath inaudibly before looking up. "And she's been living with you up 'til this day?"

He shrugged a little. "Sure," he lied.

"Do your parents know?" He didn't answer and looked away from her, now concerning her.

While this was happening, El continued to look at Terry, feeling more emotional by the second. "She's not going to get better..." she said in a small voice, getting the two's attention before she looked at her aunt. "...will she?"

Saddened, Becky answered, "No, I don't think so." That not only made her feel worse, but also Mike. "But she's not in any pain. According to the doctors, she's just stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Like in a dream. A long dream."

"Like lucid dreaming?" asked Mike.

She shrugged. "Sure."

"But that only happens when you're sleeping. I don't think it happens during daydreaming."

Becky exhaled deeply. "Then I don't know."

El sniffled, saying, "I hope it's a good dream."

Mike gently squeezed her hand. "Me too."

"I hope so too," Becky replied. 

After a few seconds of silence, the curly-haired girl asked her, "Is it the same dream?"

"We don't know," she answered. "She says different words sometimes, but those are usually it."

That was it.

She couldn't hold it in anymore.

This information...this disheartening information about her own mom...not even being aware of her surroundings, that her own daughter was home, it...

She hated it.

She hated it so much.

The tears came out, streaming down her cheeks. The freckled boy saw her tears and honestly, he wanted to cry too. He felt absolutely terrible for her to have her mother be like this. He would react the same if his mom was practically brain-dead. The two of them held hands tightly, like they're never going to let go.

"Sweetie," Becky said, reaching her arm out to her and catching her attention. "I just want you to know...that she always knew you were out there. She always believed that you'd come home that day, away from those men."

That word...home. It hit her like a sack of bricks...and she didn't mind. "Home?" she asked.

She nodded at her. "Yeah...home." The girl decided to hold her hand she was giving to her for comfort.

Mike had also had the word "home" hit him like a sack of bricks, but in a different way. If El does consider this her home, will they be able to see each other as often? What would her life be like?

"Kid," Becky said, getting his attention. "I want to show her something in private, if you don't mind?"

He shook his head at her. "No, not at all, m'am."

El looked at him with concern. "Mike?"

He squeezed her hand gently again. "I'm not going to leave. I'm still going to be here." He tilted his head towards Becky. "Go on, follow your aunt." She nodded at him as they let go of their hands and the two females left the kitchen and went up the stairs. It had to be something personal since Mike couldn't come, but he didn't mind. This was her family stuff, after all.

He looked back at Terry, still feeling disheartened by what he's learned about her. She was "stuck"...no wonder she was living with her sister. It was kind of like with his grandma, only Terry wasn't old and didn't have Alzheimer's. She was as young as his mother.

He thought if he should talk to her. He knew she won't respond, but...well, since she was her mother, she had to know, whether or not she was actually in there. He sighed, thinking it was worth a try.

He stood up from the table and walked to the living room, now standing in front of Terry, making her look up at him. He felt nervous, but went with it anyway. "Hey, Ms. Ives," he greeted her, waving at her a little. "My name's Michael. I, uh, found your daughter last year and took care of her the best I could...without her getting caught. It's nice to meet you."

It only took her a few seconds to say, "Breathe. Sunflower. Three to the right, four to the left."

He sighed and crouched down to her. "Listen, I..." He took a deep breath. "I really care about your daughter El-I mean, Jane. We're really close and we trust each other a lot." He then held her hand, the woman still not moving. "I promise, I won't let anything happen to her. She means a lot to me, like what she probably means to you. I'll never treat her wrong, I'll give her all of my support, and I'll always be by her side, no matter what. I promise you all of that, alright, Ms. Ives?"

She kept looking at him with an apathetic face, not saying anything for half a minute. He continued looking at her too. She then looked back at the TV and said, "Four-fifty. Breathe. Sunflower. Rainbow." He sighed once again, letting go of her hand. She did look at him and not saying for half a minute, so that had to mean something, right? He did mean all of what he said, after all.

Suddenly, he saw her...nose beginning to bleed. His eyes widened. El did that whenever she used her powers...

Now it made sense.

"Sweetie, really, it's just the wiring," he heard Becky say from the kitchen. He looked to see them back there again, the curly-haired girl looking at a brightly-lit little lamp. Wait...that wasn't on before.

"No," she replied. He then heard another light flicker, making him turn towards the lamp not too far from him and Terry. How did she do that...?

El and Becky entered into the room, the girl now next to her mother and looking at her. "It's Mama, right?" She looked up at Mike for support.

He instantly nodded. "Yeah." The girl then wiped the blood off of her mom's nose. 

"I don't understand," the woman replied.

He looked back at her. "You saw El unlock the door without touching it, right?" She nodded at him before he looked back at the woman on the chair. "Maybe...maybe she's trying to communicate with her...because she has powers like her. She knows she's here." He then murmured to himself, "She knows that I'm here too then..." Becky looked completely baffled before everyone tensed up at hearing the TV switch channels. They all saw the channels flipping from one to the other at a breakneck pace, El approaching it before it turned to fuzz.

"She wants to talk," El stated. Mike knew what that meant, Becky? Not so much.

...

Becky cut a towel to act as a blindfold for El. The girl was sitting right in front of Terry, putting the blindfold on. Becky and Mike sat right next to her. "We just have to be quiet so she can concentrate," the boy told the woman.

"We won't mess it up or anything?" she replied, making him shake his head. She then looked at her niece and asked, "Hey, if you talk to her, can you please tell her that I love her so much? And...that I'm sorry I didn't believe everything she said?"

"I'll try," El replied to her. "Now stop talking."

She frowned, but nodded at her. "Okay, sorry." The two then fell silent as she was finally entering into her mother's mind. They both felt tense, but hoped things would go well. 

"Mama?" she asked. "Mama, it's me...Jane...I'm here now." There was a short pause, Terry still muttering the same things. "I'm home."

Terry was silent for a bit, then said softly and sternly, "No." Mike and Becky looked shocked that she said something else before seeing the lights flicker for a second, looking around.

"What in the hell just happened...?" Becky muttered.

The freckled boy shrugged. "I-I don't know..." Knowing from past experience, that must mean something's bad.

And speak of the devil, that was when El yelled, "Mama?!" They both looked at her, seeing her worried expression. She then gasped, yelling, "Mama! Mama!" Now they looked just as worried as her. "What do I do?! Mama, you have to tell me what I have to do!!"

Becky looked scared, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh my God..." Mike also felt that way too. What the hell was going on in there?!

"El..."

Things went silent for a while, both of them noticing their noses bleeding. Becky whispered to him, "Will they be alright?"

He nodded a little. "Yeah...yeah, I'm sure."

They both heard El breathe heavily, causing their worry to increase. She then breathed at a rapid pace, now their worries sky-rocketing. They both reached in to her, Mike asking, "El?" There was no response from her, the girl continuing to breathe rapidly.

"Sweetie, come on, tell us what's happening!" Becky almost yelled.

"El!"

She finally flinched and removed the cloth from her eyes, panting as she looked at Terry with a saddened look. Instantly, her aunt and her boyfriend hugged her to calm her down. "It's okay, sweetie..."

"Yeah, everything's alright, El."

She knew it wasn't, though she really appreciated the support. Now she knew why she keeps muttering those words and...

She thinks she's trying to tell her something else.


	5. The Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the "talk" with Terry, El finds a girl from the vision and tries to convince Mike to come with her. Due to his promise to Terry, he does and they both take another trip, this time, to Chicago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's a bit longer than usual, but I hope you enjoy it!

"And it just keeps repeating?" asked Becky when they were all at the dinner table again. 

El gave her a puzzled look. "Repeat?"

"Like the same thing happens over and over again?" Mike elaborated for her. 

She then nodded. "Yes...she kept showing the girl in the room."

Both looked curious, Becky put two-and-two together. "The rainbow room?" El nodded again.

"What did she look like?" Mike asked. 

She tried to think of the best word to describe the girl in the room. "Different."

"Different than you?" the woman asked.

"Yes. I think this is why Mama wanted to talk."

"To show you the girl?"

She nodded once again as she looked back at Terry, sure of what she was trying to say. She looked back at the two of them and stated, "I think she wants me to find her."

 _Find her?_ Mike thought. She can do that, since this was her past and her life, but...what about him? He needed to get home at some point...

...

Becky opened a drawer and looked through some files, throwing one on the ground, while the two stood next to her. "When Terry was looking for you, she kept these files on the other missing kids," she explained to El. "Kids she thought were like you." This surprised both El and Mike. Kids like her...so she wasn't the only one with mind powers after all.

She threw down another file, El crouching down to look at it and Mike following suit. The woman finally got the file and handed it to her. El held that file and opened it up, looking for the girl in the vision. "Point at the girl you recognize, alright?" Mike asked her. She nodded at him before seeing the picture of her when she dug deep into the file. She pointed at her.

"This is her," she said to them as she pulled the article with her picture out so they can see better.

"Are ya sure?" Becky asked.

"Yes."

...

The TV was still static as El was sitting down in front of it with the cloth wrapped around her eyes again, the picture of the girl in her hands and her nose bleeding. After a bit, she removed the cloth, sighing deeply. "Did you find her?" Mike asked.

She looked down at the picture of the girl, being shocked that... "I didn't." Both of them looked solemn, the boy placing a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder to comfort her. It kind of worked, since she felt glad he was there with her.

...

It was nighttime now, and Mike was still there with El. While she was on her bed upstairs with the picture in her hands, he was downstairs in the bathroom, washing his hands after using the toilet. When he turned off the water and rubbed his hands dry with a towel, he began thinking about his friends and family. They had to be worrying about him-well, with the exception of his father, probably. His mother could get worried sick about him now and Lucas, Dustin, Will...they'll probably get worried sick about him too. He needed to get home...

But at the same time, he couldn't just leave El behind. He promised Terry he would be right by her side...

He sighed, trying his best to solve the dilemma going on in his head.

He opened the door and suddenly saw Becky right in front of him, surprising him a little. "Becky?" he asked.

She smoked the cigarette she had in her hands and blew the smoke away from him, asking him, "I have to ask, what exactly is your relationship with Jane?"

He remained silent for seconds. If he told her they were dating...well, he didn't think it'd turn out good. "We're friends."

She gave him a curious look. "Friends?"

He nodded. "Y-yeah, just friends. Good friends."

She nodded at him, saying, "Thank you." She then left, making him curious about why she asked that out of the blue.

For now, his mind wondered about El. He hoped she would be okay. She was distressed about not finding the girl. He decided to go upstairs and find her room. It didn't take him long though, as he heard her voice say, "Hello?" It surprised him a little, but he found the door where he heard that from. He slowly opened the door and peeked inside, seeing her lay on her bed in what he guessed was her room. He also saw that her eyes were closed and she held the picture to her chest. Was she finding her again?

It had to be yes, because her eyes now shot open, her gasping as she looked around. He instantly opened the door all the way, getting her attention. "El?"

She sat up, breathing a little evenly now. She gestured him to come to her, so he did, sitting right next to her. "I found her, Mike," she said to him.

His eyes widened a little. "The girl?"

She nodded. "She's somewhere...in a city."

"What city? Do you know?"

"I saw a sign, it said..." Hopper had told her how to read, but she had difficulty trying to think of how the city's name was pronounced. "Ch-Chi...cah..."

He figured out what she was saying, so he asked, "Chicago?"

THAT was how it was pronounced, so she nodded again. "Yes." She stood up and faced him. "We're going to find her."

He tensed up at the use of "we", making him stand up as well. "Wait, El." Her hopeful expression disappeared when he said that, making her concerned now. "I..." He trailed off, thinking back to the dilemma he had before...whether he should go back home or go with El...

"Mike?" she asked him in concern.

He placed his hands on his temples and sat back down. "I'm sorry, I..." He let out a deep breath. He promised Terry, but his friends and family could get worried as hell...

"Mike." He looked up at her, seeing her worried face. "What's wrong?" 

He deeply sighed. "I don't know if I should come with you or go back home." Her eyes widened at that. That was right, he had to make excuses to come with her. She felt bad...but...

"Mike, I don't want to go alone." He saw the sad look on her eyes, making him feel more tense about what he should decide. 

"I don't want you to, but..." He trailed off and looked away. Damn it, this had to be the most hardest thing he had gone through in his whole life. El or everyone else...shit...

"Mike." She held his hand, making him look at her. "After we see her, we can leave and you can see them again. I promise." It didn't sound like a bad offer to him, but still, gone for three days? And it was just for El.

But...his promise with Terry...damn it, he didn't want to break it. Who would know what would happen to her if she went alone? If the guys at the lab were looking for her, then...

"Mike?" His train of thought broke as he looked into her eyes...her beautiful brown eyes. "Do you understand?"

 _Damn it,_ he thought before nodding at her. "I'll come with you. But you really do promise?"

She nodded back at him, smiling. "I do." She then remembered what Lucas did the year before, making her remove her hand from his and...spit on it. He looked puzzled at that before she offered it to him. "A spit swear means you never break your word."

Holy shit, she remembered that? While Mike was surprised, he was flattered that she was willing to do this to keep her word. He stood back up and spit into his hand, holding hers and shaking it. They both felt weird at the feeling, especially El since this was her first time doing something like this. However, they both smiled at each other, knowing that they can trust each other.

After wiping the spit on their jeans, they began to run to Becky to tell her. "Becky!" the curly-haired girl shouted. "I found her!" When they reached down to the kitchen though, they came to a halt, seeing Becky on the phone with someone outside, the door being halfway open.

"I-I didn't know who else to call," she said to the person on the phone. "He gave me this number and he came here lookin' for her. I thought maybe he could help me." They both looked shocked. Was she calling the police...? "Yeah, his name is Jim Hopper, he came with some woman named Joyce Byers?" She rested a hand on her forehead while El felt very cold and bitter about this, not wanting to go back to him. "It's a little hard to explain. She also has a friend with her...his name's Michael." The boy mentioned could feel the goosebumps rise from his skin. "Is his last name Wheeler, ya ask?" She removed her mouth from her phone and muttered, "Shit." She put her mouth on the phone again. "I dunno, I can ask...uh, he has black hair, I believe, brown eyes, freckles..." Her eyes then widened. "Wait, that's him?! And he's been gone for three days?!"

The couple both looked at each other with wide eyes. "We need to go, now," Mike whispered to her.

"Right," she replied.

They both spotted Becky's purse on the table, so they went to it. The freckled boy grabbed the wallet and removed all of the money from it, stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans. While he did that, Becky said to the person on the phone, "Okay, okay, I'll get him and come to the station. See ya." They both then bolted and ran out the front door before she could get a chance to see them. He grabbed his bike and ran with it down the driveway with El. As they disappeared into the woods, they could hear Becky shouting, "Jane?! Michael?! Where are you guys?!" When they saw the road, he stopped and hopped on before her, riding away from the house.

"That was close..." Mike stated, panting a little.

El held onto him, frowning. "Yeah..."

He took a deep breath. "Whenever me and my family go on a trip to see my grandparents, we always pass this Greyhound station."

"Greyhound?"

"It's a bus company. You have to pay to get a ride. I'll see if we can get on a bus to Chicago, okay?"

She nodded as a reply, resting her chin on his shoulder. She was glad she convinced Mike to come with her, but there was this...feeling, at the pit of her stomach, that made her feel a little sick. It was like...she felt bad for convincing him to come. She tried to shake it off though and focused on the path ahead with her boyfriend.

* * *

Soon, they reached to the station, seeing that there was a bus with a sign that read that it was going to Chicago. They both smiled, getting off the bike and running to it, Mike still holding onto it. 

When they reached to the entrance of it though, they were stopped by the driver's hand. He eyed the bike and said, "You kids can't go in without tickets and that in a box."

They both sighed, the freckled boy saying, "Where can we find a box?"

"Inside. Cheapest one's for eighty cents."

"Can you wait?" El asked.

The man looked at his watch. "You kids got two minutes." They both nodded as they then rushed inside the station and went to the ticket seller.

"How much for two tickets to Chicago?" the boy asked.

"$40, kids," the cashier stated. Mike pulled out the money and placed two twenties in front of him. He slowly took it and put in the cash register before walking to a printer and printing two tickets. He handed it to them and before he could ask anything of them, they ran off to look for a bike box.

El grabbed Mike's wrist and pointed at a small shop with boxes, so they both ran to there. Mike pulled some of the change from his pocket and slammed it on the desk, the cashier not flinching and looking at them with concern. "Cheapest bike box please." She sighed and walked to a long box, getting it and placing it next to the change before she grabbed that.

"You kids need-" she asked before El grabbed the box and she ran away with Mike with it, making her look more concerned now.

They got out and quickly put the bike in it, closing the flaps and holding them closed before running inside the bus with it. The driver looked at them, then the box, then at them again. "You got the tickets?" They both nodded as Mike dug into his pockets and handed him the tickets. He took them, giving them a concerned look. "What are you kids doing getting on a bus this late at night?"

Crap.

They both began thinking of an excuse. Mike came up with one and said, "We, uh...ran away from home, both in Chicago." El looked at him with wide eyes. "We thought our parents didn't understand us, so we left. But now...we really miss them. So we're going back."

The driver nodded, putting the money in his pocket and saying, "Take a seat, kids."

They both smiled at him and went to a couple of seats and placed the box in a cabinet above one of them. They both sat in their seats and sighed in relief, panting at the rush of that. They both looked at each other and smiled, holding each other's hands before the bus started up and began to leave. 

This was it...goodbye, Hawkins...

And hello, Chicago.

...

As the bus was going to Chicago, it began to rain, the drops hitting the windows. Mike fell asleep, his hand still on El's. She smiled at him, thinking he looked cute while sleeping. She then looked at the young picture of the girl from her vision, closing her eyes and relieving herself of her senses to find out more details about where she was. There were flashes of an alley filled with homeless people...then it narrowed down to a building littered with graffiti, inside having a few strangers she didn't recognize. The girl had to be there, right? She had to be...

She let out a long sigh and held onto Mike's hand gently, looking at him again as the bus crossed the Indiana-Illinois border. That feeling of guilt came back, feeling it was invading the rest of her stomach now. Why was she feeling this way? This convinced him to come and he did, otherwise, he wouldn't be here. But...

She remembered Lucas, Dustin...Will. They must be worrying about him, right? He was gone for three days. There's also his parents...

Now she realized why she had the feeling.

Whatever happens though, a promise is a promise. They'll go back and he'll get to see them again. She won't break it, not for anything.

She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, making him stir a little though he was still sleeping. Her smile came back as she gently squeezed his hand.

...

Soon, the bus stopped in a lit-up city, now not raining anymore. El looked through the window, recognizing that it was indeed Chicago. She smiled and shook Mike a little. "Mike," she said to him. "Mike, wake up. We're here."

He stirred and opened his eyes, looking at her and replying, "What...?"

"We're here."

"Oh." He then stood up along with her and reached to get the bike box. She helped him carry it down while a majority of people in the bus walked passed them and out of the bus. They both got out of their seats and walked the isle.

As they were about to leave the bus, the driver said, "Hey." They both stopped and looked back at him. "When you two see your parents again, you tell them you're sorry, alright?"

They both nodded at him. "Yeah, of course," Mike said.

"How long has it been?"

"Too long," El answered before they both finally got out of the bus.

They both looked around and saw the buildings of the city all around them as well as a lot of people walking on the sidewalks. "Whoa," the freckled boy murmured.

The curly-haired girl looked at him. "You've never been here?"

"I drove through here, but I never got to actually BE here." She smiled as they both continued to look around and roam the sidewalk, now just Mike holding the box because disposing of it would be a stupid idea in their case.

Many people were chatting and walking past them. They even walked past a couple of police officers, waving a little at the kids. They didn't wave back though and avoided eye contact with them. They saw people going into buildings, revenues. They both thought that this was pretty cool, a big change from the quiet little town of Hawkins. They both stopped at a curb and looked up at one building, smiling at the sight of it. "This is cool," El stated happily.

He nodded in agreement. "Definitely."

Suddenly, a man bumped past the two, getting both of their attention. They saw the man turn to them and said, "Watch it, dumb kids." He then walked away.

Both looked very irritated at him, El saying, "Mouth-breather."

"Asshole." The curly-haired girl then gestured him to follow her, so he did.

...

After going past some old buildings, they finally reached the alley El saw in her earlier vision. They both looked cautious and a bit scared, seeing different homeless people at trash fires, old vehicles, or even makeshift tents. They saw a few looking at them, the two lovebirds trying to avoid eye contact with them. One man had to take one woman away from them and then another man manically laughed and told them, "They're deeeeaaad." He continued laughing, the two not even looking at him. "They're all dead! They're aaaalll deeeeeaaaad!!"

Both felt very uncomfortable about this place, Mike whispering to El, "Let's just get out of here."

She nodded. "Yeah." They both then ran from there as fast as they could. With someone crazy shouting that, it wasn't helping their situation at all-in fact, it was making them feel more guilty...

...

They went through a tunnel and walked up to ground level, El spotting the place she saw. She pointed at the door with a lit-up window. "There." He nodded at her before they both began to walk to the door. They stopped, the freckled boy seeing his girlfriend take a deep breath. He could tell she was nervous, so he held her hand with his free one.

"I'll be here with you," he whispered to her. "Whatever happens, I won't let you go."

She nodded at him, feeling just a little relieved. She took a deep breath again and opened the door with her other hand, both going inside.

They saw that the inside looked no different from the outside, the walls littered with graffiti and being dimly lit. As they ventured forward, they could hear voices, now Mike feeling nervous as well as El feeling more nervous. They both had to keep it together. They've made it this far, they have to go all the way.

They finally saw a few people, El recognizing them from her earlier vision. One guy had a blonde mohawk, another was tall and had darker skin, one girl had dark fuzzy hair, and the second had punk-styled blonde hair. All were huddled around a fire in a trash can, talking to one another. Both of the kids took a deep breath, stopping as Mike set the box next to an empty trash can. Finally, El asked them, "Hello?"

The four strangers stopped talking and looked at her and Mike, their hands tightening their grip on one another. The guy with the mohawk smiled and said, "Well, well..." He slowly began to walk to them. "Look what we have here..."

The girls stood up, the one with the punk-styled hair asking, "What are they wearing?"

"Those overalls?" the fuzzy-haired woman questioned El before looking at Mike. "And you some kind of nerd?" They laughed a little while neither of them answered, still looking at them.

"Listen, kiddos, there's no cow to milk or science shit to discover, so go back to the farm and school you two belong."

Mike sighed. "She's looking for a girl," he told them.

"My sister," she added.

The guy with the mohawk was now close to them, circling around them. "Aww~, Shirley Temple's lost her sister," he said in a teasing voice.

Mike gave him a peeved look. "This is serious."

"Aww~, are you Shirley Temple's boyfriend, Carl Sagan?"

He didn't answer, surprised that someone like him knew Carl Sagan, but his girlfriend did for him. "Yes." He felt stiff, wishing she'd never said that-not that he was ashamed of it, but these were dangerous people...

Most of them laughed a little again. "Pretty odd couple, Shirley Temple and Carl Sagan..." the girl with the punk-styled haired stated in a teasing voice as well. "Whoever the fuck he is."

El sighed. "I saw her, here." She then reached into the pocket of her overalls to get the picture.

She was stopped by the tall man however. "Ah-ah-ah." She felt stiff now, holding the picture of her with the tips of her fingers. "Hands out of pocket, now."

Mike shook his head. "We're not armed."

He gave him a menacing glare. "And how would we know that?"

He looked at his girlfriend and gestured for her to take the picture out. She did, the guy in the mohawk saying, "Give me that shit." He swiped it out of her hands and looked at it with the rest of the group. All looked puzzled before the fuzzy-haired woman snatched it out of his hands and looked closer at it.

"Is that Kali?"

Both of the lovebirds looked puzzled. "Kali?" they both asked in union.

Now they all looked concerned and intimidating now, the two holding their hands more tightly now. "How'd you find us? Who else knows you're here?"

"No one," El answered.

The guy with the mohawk looked unconvinced. "So what then? Your boyfriend does some nerdy science shit and poof! You show up here with that picture?" God, were they intimidated by him.

"Ax, calm down, they're kids," the fuzzy-haired woman told him.

He looked at her. "Yeah, kids that can get us all killed!"

Mike took a deep breath. "No one else knows we're here. Just us-"

"Bullshit." He then got out a knife, both of them tensing up at the sight of it, especially Mike. "I ask you two again, you both'll start losing things, alright?" He slowly approached them, making them step back.

"I-I can tell you, but-" He stopped mid-sentence when he pointed the knife directly at his face, feeling his blood run cold now.

"Then tell us, Carl. You look smart enough to explain you."

"I saw her," El said for him.

He looked at her. "How?!"

"Ax, put the knife away!" the fuzzy-haired woman shouted at him.

Mike shook his head. "It's complicated, but you won't believe us-"

He roughly grabbed the collar of his shirt, scaring him even more. "Stop bullshiting, Carl!"

"Ax!"

Instantly, El was mad and shouted sharply, "Don't hurt Mike!"

"Oh, and what will you do, Shirley-" Suddenly, he stiffened and looked at his hand, looking rather petrified and confusing the two. He gasped and threw his knife away, letting go of Mike and shouting cowardly, "J-Jesus Christ!" He then began to frantically wipe his body and hair like there was stuff on them, screaming and looking like he was doing some weird dance. El hugged Mike, the two seeing him do all of that before they heard another girl say, "You're a terrible dancer, Axel."

They both looked up to see a girl of Indian descent leaning against the rail of the stairs, having large purple hair swept to the right side, the left side of her head shaved. She wore nothing but dark-colored clothes and black raccoon-styled eye-shadow. She then descended down the stairs and approached the young couple.

"Kali, I told ya to STAY OUTTA MY HEAD!!" Axel shouted to her.

Her face didn't even shift a little. "So we're threatening young couples now?"

He pointed at them. "They know about you!"

"They had this," the girl with the punk-styled hair said, handing her the photo of her. She took a look at it before looking at the two.

"Where did you two get this?" she asked them.

Mike looked at El, who simply answered her, "Mama." She took the photo from her and put it in the pocket of her overalls.

"Your mother gave this you?"

"In her dream circle."

Axel scoffed. "Dream circle...sounds like something a schizo would say."

"She and her little boyfriend said they were looking for her sister," the punk-styled girl stated.

"Then either they're both schizos or he's not helping." Mike couldn't help but roll his eyes at him. As he was going to get the knife, she used her power to get it away from him and into her hand, him exclaiming, "Jesus!" Everyone else looked shocked at this, especially Kali.

She let go of Mike's hand and folded the knife back into its spot and handed it to her, continuing, "I saw you...in the rainbow room." She got it from her before they both circled around each other, the freckled boy giving them room and crossing his arms.

"What's your name?"

"Jane."

They both stopped and faced each other. Kali grabbed her wrist and pulled up the sleeve, revealing her number. While she was surprised, El pulled down her glove to see her number: 008. They put them together side-by-side. They had three digits and were stamped the same way...both exchanged surpised and hopeful glances, El whispering, "Sister."

After a few seconds, Kali whispered back, "Sister." They both then exchanged an emotional hug. Mike smiled, feeling happy that El was reunited with her, since she was like her.

...

Later, at the rooftop, Kali and El talked about her vision with her mother, how she lived with Hopper, and what Kali's powers were. After playing with each other for a bit, Kali regained her composure and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot." She chuckled a little. "Mike, you call him. How did you know him?"

El looked away for a little bit before looking back at her. "He found me."

"Like the policeman?"

She shrugged. "Before. It was raining...he was looking for someone...found me instead."

"And you were living with him before living with the policeman?"

She nodded, smiling. "His parents never knew. He fed me...and cared about me." She looked down, her smile disappearing. "He cried when I disappeared."

Kali raised a brow. "Disappeared?"

She nodded again, looking up at her. "There was a monster...I killed it, but I disappeared with it. I was separated from him."

"So why didn't you come back to his house?"

"I did, but...they were there."

Now she nodded at her. "Lab personnel." She nodded again. "So you went into the woods and lived there until the policeman came."

"Right."

"Then how did he find you? Or did you find him, breaking his 'rules'?"

She sighed. "I broke the rules." Kali grinned a little. "I'm not supposed to go out, but I did on Halloween."

She chuckled a little. "Well, you must have had some sort of costume."

"Ghost. No one would see me."

The Indian girl laced her fingers together. "I assume you found him."

She nodded once more. "Trick-or-treating with his friends."

"Did he know it was you?"

"Not until we stopped trick-or-treating. I went home, yelled at Hopper, then communicated with him. I told him...to come visit me in the woods." She bit her lip, looking down again. "He did and we were happy...until he came."

"He knew?"

"Even though he was hiding. We yelled...I screamed...the next morning, Mike had to go with him. When he was gone, I found Mama. He came back and we visited her the next day."

"And that's how he's with you now."

She nodded again. "Yes. He doesn't want me to go alone."

She smiled at him. "Quite the boyfriend, isn't he?"

El giggled, smiling. "Yes, he is."

...

Meanwhile, Mike sat down on a mattress upstairs, waiting for El and Kali to finish having their talk. His leg bounced as he looked around the room. It was pretty messy, having graffiti all around and clothes hanging from certain spots. To be honest with himself, he had never felt so anxious in his entire life.

He was in Chicago-not going through Chicago, actually being IN Chicago and he's met a bunch of strangers that could've killed him if it weren't for the super-powered girls. He let out a long sigh, thinking about his friends and family at home. It's just one visit, then he'll come back. He knew, he just knew, that they have to be worrying about him and would be pissed off when he finally comes back, especially his friends and his mother.

Now he thought that there could be a search party looking for him, looking for any trace of him. Hopper would be very pissed like his friends and family probably will. His mother might be crying, Nancy might be upset, his father wouldn't look like he gives much of a shit (as he does), his little sister would be confused and scared...Lucas might be scared too as well as Will while Dustin would keep swearing to hide his fear for having his friend "lost".

Shit, speaking of Will, he has been acting off lately. It might as well be the appointments, but he always felt like something drastic might go wrong with him. After all, he spent nearly a week in the Upside Down last year. That must have affected him somehow.

He could feel his throat tighten and the need to cry. Now he was thinking that maybe he should have listened to Hopper and not get himself into more trouble, but he really cared about Eleven and he made a promise to Terry. But still-

He heard voices and footsteps coming his way, so he tried to regain his composure and look like nothing's wrong with him. He saw El and Kali enter the room, the curly-haired girl sitting next to him and holding his hand while the purple-haired one grabbed an orange blanket and handed it to them. She then sat across from them with tear-filled eyes, specifically eyeing El. The young girl looked puzzled. "What's wrong?" she asked her.

Kali deeply sighed. "Nothing's wrong," she answered. "I just feel...whole...now. I always felt like a piece of me was missing...and now it's not." She leaned forward to her a little. "Does that make sense?"

El began to have tear-filled eyes too, holding onto Mike's hand tight as he squeezed it in support. "Yes," she answered, her voice sounding sentimental.

"I think your mum sent you here for a reason, that she somehow knew we belong together." She then reached out and grabbed her free hand, crying happily. "This can be your new home."

She smiled a little, nodding. "Home." It rung well for her, since she needed one.

The Indian girl then looked at the freckled boy. "And this can be his home too." El's smile disappeared as she looked at his now shocked face.

"R-really?"

She nodded at him. "From what Jane has told me, you seem like a good kid, caring for her when no one else did." He blushed and smiled a little at that. "Like a good boyfriend, you have to stay here with her, in her new home." El began to worry about what his reaction to that might be since...after all, she did promise him that they'll return to Hawkins...

He guessed El didn't tell her about their promise, but that was good. He couldn't imagine what her reaction might be if she did. He decided to just roll with it and nodded. "I will." She nodded before she let go of El's hand and walked to the light-switch, grinning a little through her happy tears.

"Sweet dreams," she said before flicking it off and getting out of the room, closing the door and going downstairs.

They both looked at each other in the dark, saying nothing for a moment. Through some of the light, Mike could see his girlfriend smiling at him. "Good night, Mike," she said to him, bringing a hand to his cheek.

He held that hand and tried to smile back at her. "Yeah, uh, good night, El," he replied before they both shared a quick kiss and laid on the mattress together, El pulling up the blanket to cover them. They held each other for what felt like a while until the telekinetic girl passed out.

Mike also wanted to pass out...but the voices he heard downstairs kept him from doing that.

"How's your white hick sister and her nerdy-ass boyfriend?" Axel's voice asked Kali in a teasing voice. "Ya tuck 'em in real tight?"

"Since they're at that age, they better not be..." the fuzzy-haired woman said, also in a teasing voice.

"What? You talkin' about Sagan sticking his science into Shirley's barn?" the punk-styled girl finished for her, most of them laughing afterwards. He deeply sighed and rolled his eyes. The punk-styled girl pitched her voice high up to do a very poor impression of El. "'Ooooh yes~, I need MOOOORE of your great science~!'"

"'You got some space left in that barn? 'Cause it's about to be FULL of stars!!'" Axel mocked Mike's voice to say that. 

"Oh my God..." the boy muttered in annoyance. How old were these guys? They joked like a bunch of dumb kids at his school.

"Jane found me only using this," he heard Kali say as he heard her slam down the photo, possibly. Everyone else stopped laughing.

"And that means...?" the fuzzy-haired woman asked.

"She can find people without moving and with just an image."

There was a few seconds of silence. "You tellin' me Shirley's some human radar detector or shit?" Axel asked in disbelief.

"Or shit, yes."

He heard him scoff. "There's no way."

"We'll find out soon enough. I want to do one, tomorrow."

"Ya serious, Kal?"

"We're WAY too hot right now," the fuzzy-haired woman added.

"Paranoiiiid~," the punk-styled girl said in a singsong voice.

"REALISTIC. You can't just kill off their men and expect them to look the other way. They find us, hell will be unleashed!"

"So we go hide, giving into fear?" There was more silence. "She's in pain...she needs this. We go out tomorrow."

"Wait, wait, wait, what about Carl?" Axel asked her. "Is he a human radar detector too?"

"No, he's human like the rest of you. However, we can make him one of us if we trained him to do the basics, like shooting a gun and performing robbery."

Well, he never thought he had to learn those things in his entire life. He grew up with parents that weren't all for those kinds of things. But if it meant blending in for now...he'll take it.

He heard a scoff, then Kali continuing, "As I said before, we go out tomorrow, understand?" More silence, then someone leaving, probably Kali. Mike let out a long sigh, having a bad feeling about this. It didn't help when Axel then stated after, "Swear to God, Shirley Temple and Carl Sagan'll be the death of all of us." Really, the feeling was getting very unnerving for him. What if this isn't her home? What if they were in a situation where they HAVE to go back?

He decided that he'll think about it tomorrow, so he shut his eyes to fall asleep.

After what felt like a long time, he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How funny that I had them ride a Greyhound bus and Calpurnia (Finn's band) released a song called Greyhound not too long ago. xD


	6. The Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El and Mike wake up to see that they have to participate in a mission to kill one of the men responsible for El and Kali's torturous times in the Labs. However, they must train since they were new to all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys didn't mind me not going to the mission instantly. I needed to have Mike learn some gang basics because it seemed plausible for Kali to have the gang teach him that stuff. 
> 
> I hope you guys still enjoy anyway!

"Mike...hey, Mike," whispered a familiar voice. The boy stirred and grudgingly opened his eyes to see no other than Kali, looking down at him and El who were locked together.

"Kali...?" he replied drowsily.

She smiled and nodded at him. "Yes."

He yawned and slowly removed his arms from El before sitting up on the mattress. "Morning."

She nodded at him again. "Morning. Did you sleep well?"

He wiped his eyes. "Yeah, I guess."

Her smile faltered only a little. They only looked at each other for a full minute before she spoke again. "Are you ready for this life?"

He looked puzzled. "What?"

"A life with Jane. Clearly, you value her over your own parents since you're here with her."

He didn't answer and looked away, the strong feeling of guilt washing over him once again. It was because he promised Terry and he didn't want her to go alone. He loved her, but the fact that he chose going with El over going back home made him so anxious that he could feel the anxiety run through his veins. There was also the matter of the promise she made to him, that they'll go back to Hawkins. He wanted to go back, but this place being El's home...he didn't want to be separated from her again. He wanted to see her again for almost a year, feeling like decades and then he did. He didn't want to let go of her...

The Indian girl saw the look on his face and held his hand, making him look at her. "Hey. I know how it feels to be away from the ones you care about. But then I told myself that it was for the better, for me and for the family I've lived with before."

His eyes widened when she mentioned the family. "You lived with a family before?"

She nodded. "When I escaped, I stumbled upon them and they took care of me. However, they were unable to help me and an investigation was going on in the town they and I lived in, so I got away from them. Like I said before, I convinced myself it's for the better." She paused to gently squeeze his hand. "I want you to think about that too. Would you and Jane be safe back in your town? Or is coming here keeping you both, as well your friends and family, safe?"

He still didn't answer for a bit, but...he could see what she's trying to say. Those guys in Hawkins Lab, they were relentless. Plus, there was Becky's call. Maybe they can trace calls. If so, he was sure they were going to go look for her again...and him. Who knows what they will do to him? But he'll put himself on the line before they get her again. He may not be super-powered like she and Kali probably is or a good fighter, but he's willing to do anything if it meant protecting her. 

"I think coming here was a good choice," he finally answered, looking right into her eyes. "Maybe we can be safe here."

Kali smiled at him again, placing another hand on his. "You will. I promise you. You'll be helping her more than you did last year."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later, when Jane is awake and I re-introduce you to the gang." He gulped, making her scoff a little. "It's okay. They don't bite...not on my watch, anyway." She paused again. "Let me ask you again: are you ready to live this life?"

He wanted to go back home, but maybe it wasn't safe for him or El there. Kali was kind, but there was her gang and the conversation they had the night before. He didn't know what to think about this issue, so for now, he just nodded and replied, "I am."

She smiled at him again before removing his hand from hers. A question suddenly popped up in his mind and he asked without any forethought, "What exactly is your power, Kali? You don't have the same as El's."

She raised an eyebrow. "'El?'"

"Oh, uh, it's my nickname for Jane. It's short for Eleven." He shook his head. "She doesn't mind it."

She slowly nodded in concern before answering, "I can make you see or not see whatever I like."

He looked interested. "Really?"

"Yes. Here, let me show you what I showed Jane." She reached out a closed fist and opened it up, showing him the rainbow-colored butterfly El had seen before. He looked awed, mouthing, "Wow..." It flied around him, making him reach his hand out for it. His hand went through it, making him look a little confused. She giggled a little. "You can't touch it because it's not actually real. I convinced your mind that it is." She then grabbed it, disappearing into her fist before she opened it again, revealing that it's not there anymore. "Only I can touch it and make it disappear."

Okay, that was a freaking cool power. Not as cool as El's, but it was definitely amazing. 

He saw her then move herself next to El, sitting on a chair and looking at her. He guessed she was waiting for her to wake up. He decided to do the same, sitting on the other side and slowly reaching for his girlfriend's hand.

* * *

_"It's me," she heard Hopper's voice say._

_Right in front of her in this darkness was the radio back at the cabin, Hopper's voice spewing out from it. She slowly approached it, looking solemn. Why was he contacting her? "I know I've been gone for too long and...uh..." So he hasn't came back to the cabin. As much as she was relieved by it, she also began to worry. Why wasn't he back? "I just wanted you to know that it's not because of you or Mike or our fight." She furrowed her brows, frowning. "Something came up and...I'll explain it to you soon..." She finally was in front of the radio. "I just wanted to tell ya that I...I'm not mad at you. I'm also not mad at Mike. I'm...I'm sorry." This made her want to cry. He was sorry? Otherwise...he wouldn't contact her._

_She couldn't believe it. He still cared about her, even after all they've been through._

_But-_

* * *

A sudden squeeze of her hand woke her up, making her gasp and open her eyes wide open. She looked at her boyfriend, who held her hand, then her sister. "El, are you okay?" Mike asked her instantly. She only looked at him and nodded, glad that he was awake as well.

"Bad dream?" asked Kali. She looked back at her, sitting up now.

"What time is it?" she asked her.

"It's late." She looked at the young couple. "The two of you have slept well." She then stood up. "It's time for the two of you to meet my friends- _properly_ , this time." She walked out the door, gesturing for them to follow her. They both looked at each other before removing their hands from their hold and getting off of the mattress. They both put on their jackets and walked out the door with the Indian girl.

The three descended down the stairs and walked to a room that looked like an office, but messy and graffitied like the room. Axel looked at Kali, holding an empty Chinese takeout box and told her, "We need get money, Kal. I can't stand eating more of this garbage." He held the box up and walked away to throw it in the trash.

"This is Axel," Kali introduced.

"The spider hater?" El asked, making the fuzzy-haired woman laugh, Mike chuckle, and Kali grin.

"Yes, the spider hater." The man in question sneered at Mick for laughing. The girl with the sun-kissed skin then directed them towards the punk-haired girl. "This is Dottie, our newest." She only waved at them with her fingers. "Like the both of you, she just left home." To Mike, she looked like she could be around his sister's age. He guessed that it was just a teenage thing. He knew his parents wouldn't let her do it.

"Ya mean the looney bin," the guy with the mohawk replied in a snarky way before chugging an open can of beer.

The three then looked at the fuzzy-haired woman. "This is Mick, our eyes and protector." The woman looked up at them while shuffling some cards before lifting her head up as a greeting. They then looked at the tall man. "And this is Funshine, our warrior." He approached them, Mike feeling nervous as he tightened his grip on El's hand. She squeezed it to relieve him. "Don't worry about his size. He's a teddy bear." That relieved the freckled boy a little.

He smiled at them, greeting in a kind voice, "Hello, Miss Jane and Mister Mike." To the both of them, that sounded very weird, an older man calling them by titles like that. But they had to believe Kali, so when he offered his hand to shake, they both did separately. When he shook El's hand, he looked at it as if he was scanning for something.

"If you're looking for a number, you won't find it," Kali said to him. They stopped shaking hands, now taking a full look at everybody. This seemed to be like a gang of misfits.

As if she were reading their minds, Kali sat down at the table and told them, "They're not like us in terms of powers, but we're all outcasts."

"Outcasts?" El asked, looking confused.

Before Mike could answer, Axel did for him. "Freaks."

"Speak for yourself," Dottie replied, twirling a part of her hair.

"Society's left them behind, hurt them, discarded them as if they were trash," Kali continued.

"We were dead, all of us," Funshine added. "If it weren't for Kali, we'd all be dead. She saved us here..." He pointed at his temple before pointing at his heart. "And here." Both kids couldn't help but smile a little at the guy. Kali wasn't kidding, he was a teddy bear.

"Oh, don't get mushy on us, Fun."

He looked at the girl and shook his head. "It's not mushy. It's the truth."

"And now we help her," Mick added, holding a gun now.

"In this life, kids..." Axel said, leaning towards them despite being near the end of the table. "You either roll over or fight back."

"We're all fighters here."

To Mike, it made sense because they were a gang of outcasts, misfits...kind of like his friends...

"Fight...who?" El asked. She was right. Fight who? The government?

...

Yes.

The fact that Kali poured some IDs at the table later confirmed that for the two of them. "Everyone you two see here are somehow responsible for what happened to us," she explained to them.

The curly-haired girl held up one ID card and looked at it with Mike before looking back at them. "You hunt these guys down," he said, not as a question, but a statement. Kali only nodded as a reply.

"And you hurt them?" El asked.

"Nah, we just give 'em a pat on the back," Dottie sarcastically answered. El was familiar with sarcasm thanks to Hopper, so she was able to detect that as quickly as Mike.

"You kill them." The girl looked at him with wide eyes.

"Yes," Kali replied, the girl looking at her with those same wide eyes now. "They're all criminals. We make them all pay their crimes." Mike gulped, feeling his blood running cold. El tried to get into her mind, and saw what had happened days before...

She killed the man who owned this yellow ID and got away from the police with her gang, using her powers in doing so.

Still in shock, she looked down at the ID, concerning the gang and even Mike. "What's the matter, Shirley?" Axel asked, sneering. "Ya look like ya seen a ghost."

"We can't all be fighters, I guess."

"El, are you alright?" Mike whispered to her. She looked up at him, locking his dark-colored eyes with hers.

"I'm fine," she whispered back to him. "You know I killed." He definitely knew, remembering when she crushed the agents' brains the year before. That was one of the most craziest things he's ever seen in his entire life.

"You've killed?" Kali asked El, overhearing their whispering.

They looked at her, both nodding. "I did."

Kali nodded back. "And these men you've killed, did they deserve it?"

Before she got the chance, Mike answered, "Yes." The gang and his girlfriend looked at him. "She killed those men to save me. I'm still very grateful for that." El smiled and gently squeezed his hand, making him smile back at her.

Her smile disappeared as she looked back at the gang. "They hurt me and they can hurt Mike," she added. "They all deserved it."

"And they will still want to hurt you and him," Kali replied in a serious voice, rolling her head around to point to everyone. "They'll hurt us as well. We're just making the first move." They both nodded, understanding.

_So this was what she meant by me helping her more,_ the boy thought. This definitely would, since they're getting rid of the guys that made El suffer. But...killing? An actual person? That was why he felt his blood running cold. Killing a real person...he didn't feel like he was ready for THAT. No wonder Kali asked him when he woke up.

"What about you, Mike?" the Indian girl asked him, the entire gang now looking at him and making him feel nervous about this much attention.

He gulped again and sheepishly answered, "I killed bugs." That made the gang break out into a fits of giggles and laughter. He never felt so embarrassed in his life, and that was counting times at school.

Feeling bad for him, El whispered to him softly, "It's alright." He looked at her and gave her a cute smile, making her smile back. She honestly didn't want him to kill. She had reason to and was experienced in it, but he hasn't and probably will never be, right?

Kali sighed and replied, "Then these guys will teach you."

Funshine and Mick looked at her in a bit of concern, Dottie just looked at her plainly, and Axel looked completely dumbfounded. "You're shitting me."

"When have I ever done that?"

He groaned. "Why'd we have to teach HIM?!" He pointed at Mike, making him feel agitated. He had to be his least favorite member of the group because he was a complete asshole.

"He's not obviously experienced, but he will be if you just teach him the basics."

He shook his head and sighed. "Come on, Kal-"

"Hey, he's living with us now," Mick told him, getting his attention. "If he's going to live with us, then he has to know how to defend himself somehow."

Funshine nodded. "I agree."

Dottie grinned, twirling her hair again. "Carl Sagan'll become a badass."

He looked defeated, groaning again and asking, "Just the basics?"

"Just the basics." She then looked at El and tilted her head to the right. "Come with me, Jane." She looked back at her gang. "All of you, teach him. And treat him well." He was kind of surprised by the last thing she said, but he guessed that she was kind to him and kind of saw him as some sort of brother-in-law. Better that than the opposite.

They all nodded at her as she and El began to walk outside, but not before she kissed his cheek and told him, "Good luck." After a couple groans of disapproval and the two girls being out of sight, all of their eyes now trained onto his. He felt weird being in the spotlight now.

Without a second thought, he asked them, "So...what are 'the basics' exactly?"

"Shooting, stabbing, fighting hand-to-hand..." Mick answered, counting with her fingers. Mike could feel his blood run cold again by the mention of the first two.

"There's also aiming and stealing as fast as ya can," Axel added, her nodding.

"Yeah, is that it?"

"Hiding bodies..." Dottie added, twirling a part of her hair. He shuddered at that.

Mick rolled her eyes and looked at him. "Leave that to the professionals. The others mentioned before, those are the basics, kid."

He slowly nodded, his anxious expression clear to see for all of them. Funshine gave him a reassuring look. "It'll be okay, Mr. Mike. You get used to it."

"Yeah," Mick added. "You'll be doing all that shit like it's second nature, alright?"

He never thought there would be a day in his life where he had to LEARN this kind of stuff. As much as he didn't want to do it, he reminded himself that he had to blend in, go with their flow, because really, who would know how they'd react to the truth, that he wanted to go back home?

He had to do this.

He nodded at them again. "Okay...um, you don't need to worry about teaching me how to steal." They kind of looked surprised, but those faces lasted for only a few seconds. "What do we start with first?" The entire gang looked at each other, practically communicating through their gazes. That raised Mike's anxiety for what's about to happen. But this had to fall through sooner or later...

...

Not much later, Mike put on gloves because the members told him that a gun gets hot when shot, so hot it could burn your skin. That was news to him-he knew TV shows and movies weren't ENTIRELY accurate, but that was something he never expected from a gun. No wonder he saw some shooters from shows and movies with gloves.

In a minute, he had a simple pistol in his hand, Mick saying, "Alright, get into a position ya think ya go into while shootin' a gun." He took a deep breath and held the pistol with two hands, holding his arms out and aiming it at the bottle from afar. She sighed, Axel and Dottie scoffed, and Funshine shook his head.

The woman with the fuzzy hair approached him. "That's not how ya get in position, Carl," she said, touching him and making him flinch. When he looked up at her, She didn't smile at him, but gave him a reassuring look. "I won't hurt ya. I'll just show ya the correct way." She then gently moved his arms and told him what to do with his posture and legs.

She seemed nice-strict, but still nice. She wasn't as bad as he thought she would be.

...

Later, Axel was in charge of teaching him how to use a knife. He showed him the parts like he was an idiot before telling him to watch him throw it. When he threw his knife at the board with a clown face on it, he got it off, handed it to him, and told him to try that. He took a deep breath and went into the position he saw him in and threw it...it landed on the ground, a few feet away from him. Dottie snickered at his failure as well as Axel as he walked to the knife.

"You're doing it wrong with the wrist, Carl," he told him, snatching the knife off the ground. He mimicked how Mike threw it. "You don't throw that shit like this. You don't flick your wrist, you keep it in position with your arm, like this." He threw it to the board again, landing on a different spot. He got it off of it and gave it to him again. "Try again." The freckled boy drew his lips to a line. He just knew this would take a while...

...

After that, the guy with the mohawk and the girl with the messy punk hair had a bag full of garbage (the only thing close to a punching bag they could offer), showing him how to stab someone if they get up-close. They showed him how to aim for the jugular, the blood vessel on the neck, the heart, and the knees as well as simple ways to torture the victim with the knife. He never felt so uncomfortable about learning something in his life. They were teaching him to be a murderer. He hoped he wouldn't have to come to a moment where he had to kill...

...

Funshine was in charge of teaching him basic hand-to-hand combat. He gave him permission to hit him since he doubted he would hurt him. He tried to think of how he's seen fighting in TV shows, movies, and school and landed a punch on his torso. He held back a groan and flicked his hand around to get rid of the pain it gave him. He chuckled, making him feel bad, but he gave him a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Mr. Mike," he told him before tilting his head towards Axel. "He couldn't make me flinch at a punch either."

He and the girls laughed while the guy in question looked betrayed. "Seriously, you had'ta tell him that?!"

"But it's true," Mick replied.

"And that's just as embarrassing," Dottie added. He rolled his eyes at her while Funshine and Mike focused on the training at hand.

"If you do plan on hitting someone at the chest, you must aim at their stomach with all your strength. It'll leave them in a pained daze."

"Then ya aim at the face as hard as ya can," Axel added, Mike looking at him. "Or you can pull out the knife or gun and finish them off."

The tall man nodded. "That's correct." Mike nodded in understanding. He didn't want to pull out those weapons because he didn't want to kill. Still, if there was a point he had to...

...

Earlier with Mick, Mike was in the position she helped him be in and aimed at the bottle again. However, without her saying anything, he pulled the trigger and missed the bottle, hitting a piece of wood. The gang tensed up at the sound as well as Mike with the recoil. Mick gave him a dumbfounded look. "What the hell was that?" she asked him like he did something terrible to her.

He looked at her with a nervous look on his face. "I...I just..." he mumbled, his hands shaking a little. "Shot it...?"

She sighed deeply and walked to him again. "You don't just shoot a gun without accurately aiming it."

He gave her a puzzled look. "I am aiming it."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean it'll be accurate. Get into position again." He sighed and got into the position again. "Now shut one eye."

"Which one?"

"Either. I prefer shutting my left." So he closed his left eye.

"Why do I have to do this?"

"Aiming with one eye makes your aim more accurate. Ya have to be a lucky sonuva bitch to aim accurately with the both of them open. Make this a habit, alright?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Now, shoot the bottle."

...

During that time with Axel, Mike didn't flick his wrist when throwing the knife this time, but it landed on the ground, further away from the target. The guy with the mohawk groaned and ran to get it. "Seriously, ya have shitty aim, Carl." The boy rolled his eyes before he gave him the knife once again. "Like what Mick taught ya with the gun, ya have to shut one eye to aim accurately."

He looked puzzled again. "You didn't do that-"

"'Cause I'm a professional. Ya aren't." He rolled his eyes at him again, the guy shaking his head before getting out of his way. "Ya don't need to like me, Carl. I'm just teaching ya how to do this shit correctly."

"Sure," he merely replied before shutting one eye and throwing the knife at the cardboard.

...

Mike had tried to kick Funshine's torso, but slipped on his own feet and fell down. Axel laughed and Dottie giggled, much to Mick's and Funshine's disapproval.

The tall man helped the freckled boy back up on his feet and said, "When you kick, you don't move two of your feet. Just one." He moved himself away from him to demonstrate a kick. "Watch and learn." He nodded as Funshine slowly demonstrated a roundhouse kick to him. He followed along, doing exactly what he was doing. The man smiled at him and nodded back. "Yes, exactly like that, Mr. Mike." He smiled back at him, feeling good that he was doing something right.

...

Mike shot the pistol at the bottle...finally breaking it. He couldn't get used to the recoil, but he smiled, finally doing something right for once. Mick nodded and smiled at him as well as Funshine and Dottie. "See? Easy," she told him.

It strangely was.

...

The freckled boy threw the knife at the board, finally hitting it. He felt proud of himself again, grinning along with Axel. He placed his hands on his shoulders and shook him. "That's it!" he said to him happily. "That's how ya do it, Carl!" At least it made Axel tolerable for once.

...

After learning the kicks, Mike planted his one foot on Funshine's stomach as hard as he could. He kind of flinched a little before he got his foot down and punched his stomach as hard as he could. He released a small cough, smiling at Mike. "I think you're ready, Mr. Mike." The rest of the gang said things in agreement. He smiled at all of them, feeling a bit bashful. It took a while and he still had some hesitation in him, but now he was ready to go on with this mission.

Suddenly, they all heard sounds of metal moving outside. All of them looked in the direction it was coming from, Axel asking, "The hell is going on?"

The freckled boy knew it had to be El and Kali training, but...what were they doing?

* * *

Kali had told El about bottling up her anger when they first got outside. With empty glass bottles dirty pieces of cardboard, she taught El how to use her anger to make her power stronger. She had made one bottle completely shatter into tiny pieces and then ripped a piece of cardboard completely in half, which meant progress.

Now, she had told her to move an orange train carriage towards them. She had tried her best, thinking of the torture she went through before she escaped. The body was hoisting up, but the train itself wouldn't budge. She was practically shaking, trying her very best to move it. However, the strain she was having was getting too painful, so she stopped and bent down a little, panting as a trickle of blood came down her nose. "I...I can't..." she muttered.

The Indian girl looked at her, her stern face unchanging. "You told me you were able to lift a van last night," she replied to her as she straightened up. 

She looked at her and nodded, thinking of the time that happened last year. "I did."

"The bad men were trying to take you away again, from Mike, and that made you angry, did it?" She nodded again. "Good. Now, find that anger and focus on that, not the train, not its weight, and not how much anger you need this time. Just focus on that anger and let it take over for a bit."

Let her anger take over? The last time it happened...the windows of the cabin broke.

All of them.

That meant it was key to making her stronger, so she faced the train carriage and held her hand up again, trying to focus on her anger from then. It still wasn't enough though...

"If the torture isn't enough, then find something else in your life that angers you a lot," Kali suggested. There was something else she felt angered by, actually.

Her argument with Hopper.

* * *

_"Two days, two GODDAMN days you've broken the rules, El!! Do you know what that means?! Do you know how much danger you put US in?!"_

* * *

She had to do it to see him again. Back then, he wouldn't understand.

Seeing the look on her face, Kali continued, "Now channel it."

* * *

_"All I asked of you was to follow three simple rules and guess what? You BROKE them, TWICE!! YOU CAN'T EVEN FOLLOW THREE DAMN RULES WITH A SECOND CHANCE!!!"_

_"Guess what that means, kid. No more Eggos...and no TV for two weeks!"_

_"Okay, then a month."_

_"Then a month and a half!"_

_"Then congratulations, kid. You went from no TV for a month and a half to NO TV AT ALL!!"_

* * *

He didn't need to do any of that. He was acting like Papa. He shouldn't be like Papa, but there he was in that moment.

...

As the train began to actually move, Mike and the gang got outside and saw what was happening, looking awed. "Holy shit..." Axel said in a whisper.

"Is she...?" Mick asked, everyone knowing the answer to the question she was going to ask.

Mike couldn't believe it. Was El really THAT powerful?!

...

"Dig deeper! For your whole life, you have been lied to..."

* * *

_"Do I have a mother?" El had asked Hopper before._

_"She's not around anymore," he answered her, lying through his teeth._

* * *

The train began to move more, its bare wheels skidding against the pavement. "Imprisoned." She remembered being thrown into the dark room whenever she didn't do something right. She also remembered how she felt living with Hopper...

* * *

_"YOU told me that I can go, that I can see him, but I NEVER DO!! NOTHING EVER HAPPENS!!!"_

_"NOTHING HAPPENS AND YOU STAY SAFE, OKAY?!"_

* * *

The train got more and more closer to the two girls. "The bad men took away your home, your mother." Flashes of her mother being taken away and treated to shock therapy came through her mind. "You only have one person that understood you, but everyone you knew wanted to take you away from him!" There was Papa and Hopper...

* * *

_"No..." the girl muttered before pointing at the boy in question, who was held back by a soldier. "Mike...Mike..."_

_..._

_"_ _What did I tell you about answering him? What the hell did we even talk about last night?!"_

* * *

It wasn't like Mike was bad. She knew he wouldn't do anything to get her back in the labs. So why wouldn't they talk after all this time?!

"They took everything away from you, Jane! The bad men stole your life!"

They did...she never lived a happy life, being under the mercy of her Papa and his employees until her escape. She had cried...and she had screamed.

Like she was right now. 

She kept pulling the train forward until it was a few feet away from them. She had stopped and sunk to her knees on the ground, almost about to collapse, but thankfully got herself up by her arms.

As she felt a little more blood trickle down her nose, she heard whoops and cheering. She looked to see the gang and Mike looked thrilled to see what she had done, clapping and continuing to cheer and whoop. 

"My girlfriend did that!!" Mike exclaimed happily, pointing at her. "My girlfriend actually did that!!" She smiled at him being like this, being proud of her.

She then saw him run down the small steps and towards her. When he got to her, he gave her a big hug, in which she accepted. "That was so awesome, El!!" She laughed, feeling just as happy as he was. "That was so freaking awesome!"

"It was," she replied to him. She had to admit, she was impressed with herself, moving something like that with just her powers.

Kali grinned at the two and asked El, "I'm assuming you feel good now?"

The young couple broke their hug, Mike looking at El and her looking up at her sister. It felt great, as a matter of fact. She never knew she had that much anger inside of her. To have it all go out like that was a relief. She nodded at her, replying, "Yes...I am."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it wasn't OOC for Mike to react the way he did when he saw El move the train the way she did. I assumed he'd be that way when no impeding danger comes across him.


	7. The Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Done with their training, Mike and El get a new makeover and goes with Kali and her gang on their assassination mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I was focused on completing a couple of my fanfics on FF.net and updating another one that was on hiatus. I hope the wait was worth it, so enjoy this chapter!

Everyone went back inside the building and got into a room with dozens of ripped-out photos of people, some having X's etched onto them. The young couple looked up at them. "These are what you call the 'bad men', Jane," Kali said to her sister. "These ones, we believe, are still alive. Do you recognize any of them?"

El kept looking at the photos, trying to recognize any face she could. Even though he knew none of these people, Mike looked at the photos with markings on them, wondering what they meant. The curly-haired girl then spotted a picture of a bearded man, taking it off and saying, "Him." Mike and Kali looked at it as she remembered him being the guy that set the shock machine to four-fifty to scramble her mother's brain. "He hurt Mama."

"His name is Ray Caroll," Kali told her. "And he did more than just hurt your mother. The bad men, like Ray, know about us. It's made them hard to track...but not anymore." Right, her ability. She was sure to put it in good use.

Angered by what he had done in the past, she crumpled up his photo.

...

Outside of the room, El had a blindfold on her and the static from a radio the gang had was crackling. She still had the crumpled-up photo in her hand as she tried to look for him. Everyone was watching in anticipation, especially the gang. Mike felt a little nervous about how this might go.

She finally ripped apart the photo and took her blindfold off, her nose bleeding a little. She looked at Kali and nodded.

...

When she told them the address, Dottie got out a phone book and looked through it. She then pointed at a place and read, "'Gramercy Apartments, Washington and Bethel.'" She looked up at the Indian girl. "That's gotta be it, right?"

She grabbed the book from her and looked at it. "'Lilburn.'" She looked up at her group. "Anyone know where that is?"

"About an hour east," Funshine answered.

"We don't even have a new ride," Mick stated, frowning.

"So we swap plates," Kali suggested. "We have plates, right?"

Axel nodded and answered, "Yeah."

The fuzzy-haired woman shook her head. "It's too risky."

She grinned at her. "Where's the fun if there's no risk?" She then looked at the young couple, who sat together now. "We have to give my sister and her boyfriend a memorable first day, right?" Memorable...?

"I'm in, for Ms. Jane and Mr. Mike," Funshine stated with a smile.

Axel shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He then looked at the fuzzy-haired woman. "Mick?" Everyone looked to see hesitating. Jane wondered why, but Mike could get an idea.

She then turned to them with a grin and replied, "Screw it!"

This was it...their first mission...

And last, they hoped.

Everyone stood up and went to different places to prepare, but when Mike and El stood up, Kali stood in front of them with a...mischievous smile. Both gave her puzzled looks. "What?" Mike asked.

"Since you'll be with us now..." she began. "It's time to give you two new makeovers."

Mike's eyes widened while El looked confused. "Makeover?" she asked.

He whispered to her, "We'll look a little different than we usually do." She gave him a weird look before Axel came and made them separate.

"C'mon, Carl. We'll make ya look less like a nerd," he said to him, walking with Funshine now.

"Mike?" she asked her boyfriend.

"I-I'll be alright, El!" he shouted to her to reassure her. Well...he HOPED he'll be alright...

...

Axel sat him down on a chair and dug through a box of clothes to find what he should wear while Funshine got hair supplies to do his hair. "Lean back, Mr. Mike," he told him. He did so, seeing that the top of the chair he sat in leaned back with him. He saw Funshine squeeze out some hair gel on his hand and rub his hands together before styling his hair. Having gel in his hair felt...weird. Since Mike only has haircuts, this hair-styling thing was a new experience for him. Usually, girls would have this done.

"You know how to do this, Funshine?" he asked him.

He chuckled and grinned. "Yes, Mr. Mike. My ex-wife was a hair-stylist, so I learned a few tricks from her." Ex-wife, huh...?

"Hey, Carl."

He raised his head up a little at that call, but Funshine told him, "Kept your head down, Mr. Mike."

He laid his head back down and said, "Sorry."

Axel approached him with a pile of clothes and handed it to him. "When Fun's done with your hair, change into these, alright?" He nodded, letting Funshine do his thing with his hair. He wondered how he was going to get his hair back to normal after this...

...

After Funshine was done with his hair, he changed into the clothes Axel gave him and used his reflection on the mirror to see how he looked. His hair was styled similarly to Steve's. His bangs were feathery-looking and swept to the left side of his face while the rest of his hair was swept down like a mullet. He wore a plain white T-shirt with an unbuttoned black collared shirt with short sleeves, gray jeans with a black belt, and black combat boots. He also had a toothpick in his mouth given by Axel so he would look cooler. He also wore black spiked bracelets on his wrists and a silver necklace. He could recognize himself in his own reflection. This was a hell of a transformation, he'll admit.

Axel and Funshine grinned, the guy with the mohawk placing a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Ya look pretty kickass now, Carl."

He did...he surprisingly did look kickass.

He got the toothpick out of his mouth and grinned, nodding. "Kickass." The only question is how he's going to revert back to his normal-looking self. If he went back home looking like this...

He put it back in his mouth when the guys heard Kali shout, "Hey! When you guys are done, come up here and look at Jane."

Right, El was getting a makeover too. He wondered how she looked in a punk style.

The guys went upstairs and looked at Jane, sitting on a chair similar to Mike's. Her hair was gelled and combed back. She also had on black eyeshadow and an ashy look on his lips. She wore a black shirt underneath a dark-gray wool jacket, faded jeans that rolled up above her ankles, and white sneakers. His eyes widened at the sight of her looking like this and she did the same when she looked at him. 

He approached her as she stood up, the two now being close to each other. "Mike..." she said to him in a nearly inaudible voice before smiling. "You look good."

He blushed a little, smiling back at her and replying, "Thanks. And you look so..."

"Pretty?" She would know because the face he had when he looked at her there was the same as when he saw her in her disguise last year.

She may have mind powers, but could she read minds? Because he knew she was right. "Really pretty." They both held hands and looked at each other lovingly.

Axel groaned and rolled his eyes at the sight, Funshine grinned, Dottie said, "Awww, I guess.", Mick was smiling but shaking her head, and Kali smiled before approaching them. "If you guys are done being lovey-dovey now," she said to them, getting their attention. "We should go on our mission." They both nodded at her before they released each other's hands.

...

Later, they all got outside and approached the covered van they owned. Mick released the cover and Funshine opened the side door. He, El, Mike, Kali, and Dottie entered in through there. Mick got in the driver's seat while Axel got into the passengers seat. When the doors were closed, the van started up and drove away...onto their mission.

Mike had to be honest with himself, he was nervous about this. So many things could go wrong with this mission. What if the cops get them? What if someone dies? What if things don't go according to plan...?

El saw the nervous look on his face before holding and squeezing his hand. He looked at her, seeing her give a reassuring smile. He couldn't help but smile back at her, since her smile was one of the things he loved about her. Maybe things could go right in this mission. After all, El is there and so is Kali.

...

As they drove, the radio blasted some rock music, most of the gang jamming out to it, including El. Her having fun was all he needed to feel good. Kali had offered them masks to wear during the mission. El had decided to use a baby-face one while Mike went with a cartoony, evil-looking, black and white one. The rest of the gang thought those masks fit them, so they decided to keep them.

...

Maskless now, the young couple felt the van stop, everyone exiting out of it, much to their confusion. As Kali got out, Mike asked, "Do we need gas?"

She shook her head without looking at him. "Yes, but Mick is already handling that," she answered.

"Then what are we doing here?" El asked her.

"Stocking up." She then walked away, making them look at each other with puzzled faces.

"Maybe...they're going to get some food?" The freckled boy shrugged. "I mean, it's one thing a gas station offers other than gas." She nodded before they got out and entered into the store with everyone else.

It looked a little old, probably from the 60's, but had a lot of food and beverages displayed, as expected from a gas station. Kali faced the cashier and said, "Your bathroom is leaking."

He looked wary before looking at the bathroom. They didn't see it leaking, but the cashier definitely did, because he looked shocked and exclaimed, "Shit!" He then walked over to the bathroom weird and entered in, closing the door behind him. Kali grinned. Mike and El couldn't help themselves by doing the same, thinking that was a little funny.

Axel walked in front of the bathroom door and said, "Okay, contestants! Ya have a minute and a half, so let's begin our supermarket sweep!" That made everyone roam around for some food.

El looked at Mike for some help, him replying, "I guess you can just take what you need." She nodded before he pointed to the freezer isle and suggested, "Let's start there."

"Okay." They both walked into there, El grabbing an apple near the first freezer before seeing Eggos boxes. That made her put the apple back and open it to grab all of the Eggos boxes. Mike chuckled to himself, reminded about the fact that she loves Eggos. That was something that will never die out, he presumed.

He decided to look at the freezers and see some ice cream. His eyes widened. Should he get that? He always loved ice cream, but it was November, meaning it was getting cold.

Ah, maybe he'll have one to himself since ice cream was the only cold treat he'd eat in cold weather, so he opened that and grabbed a tub before closing it, looking for other things to take.

...

It has been a minute and a half. El had gotten quite an armful of Eggos boxes while Axel held his tub of ice cream by its handle and also a couple of bags of chips, food his family back at home would never let him eat. Why Axel and not Mike? Because he told Mike to quickly steal from the cash register since he had told everyone that he was alright in stealing.

However, everyone heard a gun cock, making everyone stop what they were doing and see the store owner with his gun pointed to him. Everyone felt stiff. "Hey!" he shouted to the boy. "Put that money back!!" He slowly got his hands off of the cash register and raised them up, looking terrified to see a gun being pointed to his head, something he never thought he would see. Seeing the man point the gun at her boyfriend made something in El crumble...

"Put...the gun...down," Kali said to him slowly, raising her hands up and looking at him.

He alternated looks between her and Mike, yelling, "Stay back! STAY BACK!!" Should El not interfere and let Kali handle this...?

"Your money is insured, Darrel. We're only stealing from the war criminal billionaires that run this place. You won't even lose a dime."

"Stay back." He stepped forward, keeping his gun pointed at her. Her persuasion tactic doesn't seem to be working, so she needed to do something about this...

Now the owner was close to Kali, making them much more tense. "We're all on the same side here."

"I said, stay-"

Screw it.

She walked towards him, held her hand up, and let out a scream, using her power to knock the guy into some Styrofoam boxes, knocking him unconscious. Everyone looked a little shocked, especially Mike, as they all gathered around to see that the store owner really was unconscious. The freckled boy looked at his girlfriend...seeing no look of remorse on her face. Well, he DID point a gun at him...

"Daaaamn, Shirley..." Axel said in amidst of everyone else's silence.

Suddenly, everyone heard police sirens, Funshine whisper-shouting, "Go, go, go!" Everyone had then gotten outside with their supplies, getting into the van.

"We need to go, Mick!" the guy in the mohawk told the driver. She then got inside with everyone else and drove off without even removing the pump, having it fall out of the fuel tank and leak. 

God...that was the first actual robbery Mike had participated in, maybe El's too. He never thought it would be a little...terrifying, to say the least.

"Are you alright, Mike?" El asked him, seeing the look he had on his face.

He looked at her and smiled. "I'm fine, El...thanks." She smiled back and leaned her head on his shoulder, making him blush a little.

"Aw, how lovey-dovey..." they both heard Dottie mumble in the background. They have both decided to ignore it.

* * *

It was now night and they have finally arrived at their destination. Mick had stopped the van, everyone getting their masks as she leaned into sight. "We'll just case the place and stick to the routine," she told everyone. "We have time."

"We also have her," Kali replied before looking at El. "Can you look?" The girl in question nodded before closing her eyes. Everyone watched her do her thing with her telepathic power before she opened her eyes, looking back at her sister. "He's watching television."

"Is he alone?" Mick asked her.

She looked at her, her nose bleeding as she shrugged. "I saw him...no one else." 

"Works for me," the Indian girl stated.

"Me too," Dottie replied.

"Let's do this," Funshine added, putting on his Care Bear mask, everyone else following suit with their own masks.

"Keep it running," Kali told Mick.

She nodded and replied, "See ya 'round the back."

Mike felt the nervousness he felt when they departed, but with El, he shouldn't worry about this situation too much. Still, he had no idea how this will go...

Neither did El, but it didn't bother her. Still, she'll have revenge, she'll make Ray pay for what he did.

Everyone finally got out of the vehicle to finally commence their mission as the van drove away.

* * *

They got in front of his door, assuming it was locked. El had used her power to test out if it was locked and it was. She then unlocked two of the locks as discreetly as she could. They all heard the TV in the room suddenly shut off and the man standing up. Kali turned to everyone and gestured them to follow her quietly. They did as she entered into the room Ray Caroll called home, seeing the man himself try to get his TV back to the channel it was on. Mike's heart hadn't raced so hard, not even whenever he did exercises for Phys. Ed.

When everyone got to a spot where they could clearly see him, Kali greeted in a calm yet intimidating tone, "Hello, Ray."

The man instantly stopped what he was doing and turned to see not only her, but nearly the entire gang, including the young couple. He looked so terrified. "Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed as he was about to run to reach the phone. Funshine got in front of him, making him stop.

"Sit down," he demanded in a rather cold voice. "Please." The man began to shake, backing away from him. That lead to the African-American man to grab his shoulders and throw him down onto a recliner chair he had. "I said sit!" Mike tensed up at how Funshine behaved as well as El, the two holding each other's hands. They knew he was friendly, despite looking scary, but this change in demeanor still scared the hell out of them.

"J-Jesus..." The man's eyes darted to everybody. "Please, j-just take what you want!"

"Oh, we will..." Axel replied, the man looking at him and Dottie.

"Where's your wallet?" the punk-haired girl asked him.

"B-bedroom. My bedroom...in my jeans." And with that, the two left to the man's bedroom to steal the money and other possessions he might have. Funshine stood guard at the door in case Ray had any other visitors.

Kali looked at El and gestured her to come with her. She and Mike looked at each other, him whispering, "You can go ahead. I'll be here." She nodded before removing her hand from his and joining Kali to intimidate Ray. Just in case Ray did anything, he will have his gun to intimidate him with...though...he doubted he was good at intimidating people...but he'll try.

The two girls got in front of him, removing their masks. "Do you remember us?" Kali asked him. He shook his head before the lights flickered, making the boy tense up by that, before the Indian girl asked again, "How about us? Do you remember us, Ray?" Kali must have been using her powers on him at the moment.

He did look terrified before the lights flickered again and she punched him off the chair. The two girls only looked down at him being on his knees as he begged, "Please...please..." Mike would feel sorry for him if he wasn't a bad man.

"You hurt Mama," El said before screaming and using her power to throw him against the wall...near Mike. He backed away from him, seeing that throwing him made a dent in the wall. He had no idea if he should be impressed...or concerned. However, the second he saw El's angered face as she and Kali approached him, he instantly became worried about her. It's not like the man didn't deserve it, but...El being a psychopath wasn't a pleasant thought.

"W-wait, wait!" Ray cried out before Mike stepped on some glass. He didn't pay attention to the conversation as he looked back and saw a fallen framed picture on the ground, the glass on it looking shattered. Curious, he crouched down and scooped it up. He saw that it had Ray and...his two daughters, he presumed. One of them looked to be around his age and El's...

"...no, no, no, wait!" he heard him cry out. "I can help, I can help you find him." His eyes widened at that as he looked back at the situation. Was he talking about...?

"Find who?" Kali asked.

"Brenner! I can take you to him!" Brenner? That creepy doctor?! That son of a bitch that treated El wrong all her life?!

"Papa...is gone," El replied to him, looking frustrated and having a nosebleed. 

He shook his head. "No...no, he's alive."

Though Kali's face remained unchanged from its sadistic look, her voice sounded cold as she said, "Don't lie to us, Ray."

The man was close to crying. "I'm not lying..." He began to sob. "I swear...he trusts me...I'll take you to him." If he wasn't lying...God. Mike could feel his goosebumps rising from thinking about it. He also felt downcast to see El's eyes tear up from hearing this. He just wanted to hug her...

"If he IS alive, then Jane will find him," Kali replied sharply. "Just like she found you." She paused to look at her. "Do it, Jane." El did nothing for several seconds, making Mike wonder what was on her mind...probably her mother. "Do it."

Oh God...was she going to kill him? Not that he minded her killing before, but...

She then held her hand up claw-like and began...choking him. Mike gasped as the man feel down on his side and was turning very red. He backed away from him as with her moving forward, he did with sliding. "Holy shit..." he muttered under his breath. 

"Not too quick," her sister told her. "He wasn't so merciful with your mother."

Now Ray's face was completely red, the man being near death now. Even though last year he saw her crush several agents' brains with the blood and all...this was the most disturbing thing he's ever seen her done. At least the brain-crushing lasted for just a few seconds...to see someone else choke to death slowly...

Being near her now, he muttered, "El..." She looked at him, seeing the terrified look in his eyes. She never saw that since...the Demogorgon. It made her falter a little before she then looked at the picture he was carrying. Several emotions washed over her as she saw Ray and his two daughters...

This and Mike's face made her stop, putting her hand down and stopping the use of her power, making the man breath again. Both Mike and Kali gave her surprised looks.

"What's wrong, Jane?" Kali asked her.

She didn't answer her and looked up at Mike, breathing heavily. "El...?" he breathed out, looking worried about her.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, we got a problem!" Axel called out, him and Dottie coming out of a room and getting everyone's attention.

"Kids in the apartment," Dottie stated, pointing at the room they just came out from. Both Mike and El thought no one else would be at home with him, the telekinetic girl feeling worse...

Kali firmly grabbed her shoulder and made her look at her. "Did he show your mother any mercy? No."

"Please...no..." Ray begged. "I'm sorry..." The young couple thought he looked so genuine apologizing for what he did...but...but...

"He took her away from you, without hesitation."

"No...please...no..."

"K, we gotta GO!" the guy in the mohawk shouted to her. "They called the cops!"

"We finish this first!" she shouted back at him before shouting at El, "Now, Jane!" She still didn't want to kill him, looking like she was about to cry.

Getting irritated by how Kali was talking to her, Mike shouted, "If El doesn't want to kill him, that's her choice, not yours!" She and his girlfriend looked at him. While the Indian girl looked baffled, the curly-haired one looked shocked that he spoke out against her. It wasn't that she didn't like it...she actually appreciated it.

"Fine." She then got out her gun and released the safety, aiming at the man's head. As he screamed, El tilted her head at the sight of the gun and used her power to throw it out the window. Kali gave her an upset look before everyone heard police sirens ringing from the distance, fresh blood coming out of El's nose again.

"Kal, we're going!" Axel shouted. Everyone had decided to leave the apartment...and spare Ray.

* * *

Everyone went down the flight of stairs, some cursing under their breath as they hurried to the van. They all got in when the doors opened and as they closed it, Mick drove them all away. Mike, along with most of the gang, sighed in relief as he removed his mask and laid on the dirty floor, his heart pumping against his rib cage. That situation could have gone a lot worse...

El had tears on her face, her wiping them away before Kali told her, "If you wanted to show mercy, then fine, but don't you EVER take away mine, EVER. Do you understand?" The telekinetic girl didn't answer as she looked at Mike on the floor, panting and looking at her. "Do you understand?!" She tensed up at her raising her voice, but still didn't answer.

He looked at the Indian girl disapprovingly and said, "Leave her alone."

She looked at him with sharp eyes. "This has nothing to do with you."

Now El looked at her with sharp eyes, saying, "Don't talk to him like that."

She gave her a baffled look. "I saw you looking at him the way you did. If he's going to distract you, he can wait with Mick." To the both of them, it wasn't like they were going to stay anyway...

El got herself away from her and approached Mike, laying down next to him and whispering, "Are you okay?"

He nodded before replying, "Are you?"

No, she wasn't...as he wasn't either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's how Mike looks (similarly, so to speak), in case I described his look weird: 
> 
> https://78.media.tumblr.com/b670fecf6b1bdd193b69efccd37e6e52/tumblr_ovm4e6j6xr1tmwudwo4_500.jpg
> 
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	8. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in the hideout in Chicago, Mike and El have a fallout with Kali before discovering what was happening back in Hawkins and escaping the police with the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say that I am SO SORRY FOR MAKING YOU GUYS WAIT TWO MONTHS FOR THIS?! Seriously, I'm SO sorry about making you guys wait for two months! Like I said in the latest prompt of 30 Days of Mileven, I've been updating on FF.net more often and I've been focusing on my work from tech school and college. I didn't promise consistent updates, so...yeah.
> 
> Hope this can be worth it though! I've done the best I can with this chapter, so enjoy!

The gang finally got back to the hideout. While everyone else was at the bottom level, the young couple were at the upper level, talking. "That's why you didn't kill him?" Mike asked El, who was holding her old set of clothes to her chest. "Because of his daughters...and me?" She nodded at him.

"I...I don't want you...to think I'm a monster," she told him.

He shook his head at her. "You're not a monster, El. You know that, I know that."

"But still-"

"El." He shifted himself closer to her, hugging her. She looked surprised at him. "I will NEVER think that you're a monster. Ever. Please understand that. You're not a monster. You're El. You care about others, especially me. Monsters don't care about anybody except themselves, okay? Understand that, El." She felt so relieved to hear him say all of that, her heart thumping as she smiled and returned the hug.

"I understand." He smiled as well, glad he was able to cheer her up.

They let go of the hug as Mike got off of the mattress. "I'll go downstairs for a bit, but I'll be right back, okay?" She nodded as he left. As he was descending down the stairs though, he saw Kali walk up them. He stopped as she did as well, her stare at him rather sharp. He became stiff at that before she asked, "Do you mind me talking with Jane for a little bit?"

He didn't know...she probably wasn't in the mood to talk to her. "What do you want to talk to her about?"

"Something...personal."

"Personal?"

"Can I talk to her?"

He sighed. Was El really in the mood? Since he cheered her up, maybe she could listen to Kali. Still... "Fine, but if she doesn't wanna talk, don't talk to her." She nodded, looking solemn now as she ascended up the stairs again. He hoped she won't give El much trouble.

He then finally reached to the ground floor, where the rest of the gang were at. Axel was counting the money he and Dottie stole, Funshine and Dottie were gambling, and Mick was keeping a lookout. He went inside the office area, going straight into the area where the photos of employees of Hawkins Lab were at. He shoved his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath. All these people...responsible for torturing children for these "experiments"...why would they even have jobs like that in the first place? Were they even proud of it? No one should. 

He remembered what Ray said...about Dr. Brenner still being alive. That guy looked evil and every time he thought of him, he could feel shivers go down his spine. How he treated El before she escaped and that fake happy expression he had when he found her and told her to come back with him...he was just so damn evil. To say that he was still alive, that...

That had to be bullshit, right? It HAD to be. How the hell could he survive with the Demogorgon coming right at him? Sure, he and El didn't SEE him die, but the news said that his body was identified as one of the dead ones, so...

Wait, but the news also lied about Will's "death" the year before...could that mean...?

Suddenly, he saw the lights flicker violently, making him break out of his thoughts. It only happened for a few seconds, but seeing that made Mike worry about El. Only she could make the lights flicker like that. 

He ran out of the office area and saw everyone else look puzzled at what just happened. He asked them, "What just happened?!"

"Uh, we heard your girlfriend yell and then the lights went crazy," Axel answered.

"Like a rave..." Dottie added.

El yelled? Shit. He raced towards the stairs and ran up them. Kali had to make her yell, right?! He should've told her to not bother El! Goddamn it...

He finally got up, went to the doorway, and saw his girlfriend cry in front of Kali, now making him feel angry. "El!" He ran towards her, the girl standing up and the two hugging each other. "Are you alright? Are you okay?" She sobbed into his shoulder, making him stroke the back of her head. He looked back at Kali angrily and asked, "What did you do to her?!"

She stood up and backed away a little, answering, "I just reminded her of what we're fighting for."

"Sh-she showed me Papa..." El muttered to him. His eyes widened in shock and his anger grew.

"What's wrong with you?! Why the HELL would you do that?!"

She gave him a sharp glare. "It was the only way-"

He broke his hug with El and continued angrily, "What do you MEAN by 'it's the only way'?!"

"I wanted to show her that she needs to conquer her demons-"

"By showing the man that let her suffer?!"

"That let her, me, and everyone else like us suffer, yes!" Mike didn't retort to that, but still looked pissed at her. "You wouldn't understand because YOU were never involved in it!"

He exhaled heavily before El demanded in a quaking voice, "Go."

"Jane-"

"GO!"

Kali deeply sighed and backed away more from her. "Remember what I told you, Jane." She then left them be, leaving El to cry again and the two hug again.

"It's okay, El, it's okay..."

She sniffled again and kept him close to her. Nothing was alright, but Mike...just the fact that he was with her made everything seem so.

After what felt like a while, they let go and he told her, "Kali has no idea what she's talking about." He shook his head a little. "Sure, I never knew what really happened while you were in the Lab, but...I know seeing him must hurt you, a lot. I know he's the last person you want to see-he's the last person _I_ want to see. I could tell by the way you look at him that he's done horrible things to you. There are other ways she could tell you to be more brave, but making him reappear like that...it's just..."

She knew exactly what he was trying to say, so she nodded at him and replied, "I understand, Mike. Thank you." He smiled at her a little as they got into yet another hug again.

"You wanna get outta here?" he asked her.

It didn't take her more than a second to answer, "Yes."

...

Before they packed up to go back to Hawkins, they both wanted to make sure that everyone they knew was alright. Mike got a radio and turned it on, turning to static as El ripped a piece of the blanket off and used that as a blindfold. "You do know what my mom looks like, right?" he asked El.

She only caught a couple glimpses of her, but she was sure that she would find her, so she nodded at him. "Yes." She grabbed her old set of clothes again and held them to her chest as she began to channel out her senses and find everyone they knew about. Mike felt very nervous, especially since he was gone for a few days. His mom could be...could be...

* * *

_Since Mike was plenty worried about his mom, she decided to visit her first. She opened her eyes and saw her on a recliner...crying and sobbing, having a tissue box next to her. She looked really forlorn to see that as she walked towards her some more._

* * *

The freckled boy could hear his mom's crying and sobbing through the radio, instantly making him feel like shit as his eyes began to water.

* * *

_"I can't, Ted...I...I want our son back," Mrs. Wheeler said in a sobby voice to her husband, whom El doesn't remember, so he wasn't seen. "I don't know why he would run away with some girl..." The guilt she had felt like a ton were on her shoulders. She was the reason why he didn't come back..._

* * *

He could feel a lump growing in his throat as he heard his mom continue,  _"I don't know if we did something wrong or...or I did something wrong..."_

He shook his head, sniffling. "You did nothing wrong, Mom..." he muttered.

_"I just want Michael back."_ He heard her continue to cry and sob, now making him cry as he gently put his hand on the radio.

"I'm sorry...Mom..." He looked down and cried more tears. "I'm so sorry..." He knew his mom would be like this, but...it didn't hurt less...it actually hurt more.

* * *

_El felt so awful and guilty, but he'll come back. She'll make sure of it._

_Suddenly, she heard some grunting not too far from her. She turned around as the image of Mrs. Wheeler disappeared and the image of Hopper in front of some sort of machine appeared behind her. There he was...the man she was angry at, but still cared about..._

_As she walked towards him, he leaned towards the machine and said, "That's where I was. It's just a damn graveyard."_

* * *

Mike stopped crying when he heard Hopper. What did he mean by that? He wanted to ask El, but any noise could break her from her visiting, so he didn't. Still, why did he say that?

* * *

_Now she saw Will on the hospital bed, looking up at somebody with watery eyes, maybe his mom, and said, "It's too late....they're almost here." They? Who was they?_

* * *

The dark-haired boy wondered about that as well, but knew that didn't mean anything good. Was something happening to him? Shit-

_"Oh my God, that was close,"_ he heard Dustin's voice say through the radio.

_"Where the hell were they going to, anyway?"_ he also heard Lucas's voice ask. It was a relief to hear their voices again, but again with the "they". What the hell was going on back home...?

* * *

_El saw the two boys walk and look to their right, then forward. It seemed like there were other people with them, but who? And it came as a surprise to her that they weren't with Will...why?_

_She saw them nod, Lucas saying, "Yeah, at least we don't have Demogorgons around us anymore." That one word made her blood run cold, Demogorgon..._

* * *

His eyes widened at that word. Demogorgon...no, _Demogorgons_. There was more than one?! Was that what they were talking about?!? 

Before he could comprehend this any further, he suddenly heard loud banging on the door downstairs. He looked back and shook El a little. She broke out of her visiting, her nose bleeding. They both ran to the windows and saw cops storm into the building with guns. Both of them looked terrified at this, Mike muttering, "Oh shit..." Did the others evacuate? They were sure they didn't see them down there-

Suddenly, they felt hands on their shoulders, making them look back to see Kali herself. She whispered to them, "Let's go." They didn't like her, but in a situation like this, they had to follow her. They ran out of the room they were in with their stuff, the officers seeing them. One of them shouted, "DON'T MOVE!" The young couple were tense, but they kept going up with Kali.

They eventually met up with the rest of the group upstairs, Mick muttering curses as well as Axel. "Jesus Christ..." the guy in the mohawk muttered as he got out his gun. However, she made him lower it.

"No, no, no...shh." She stayed still and quiet, gesturing everyone else to do the same. Not too long after, they all saw the officers appear. They looked around, not seeing them. The kids assumed Kali was using her power to make them invisible. After all, she stated that she could also make people not see what's there. Holding Mike's arm, El looked scared as much as he was as they saw an officer come right towards them. They moved away and let him through. They could sigh in relief, but it could be heard, so they held themselves back from doing that. 

After a bit, they disappeared, making Kali gesture them to get the hell out of here with her. They all did so, going down the stairs and back on the ground floor. Mike grabbed his bike in a box, Funshine offering to help him and carrying the box with him. They all got outside and ran to the van, other cops being there and yelling. Axel shot at them, the cops shooting back. The kids' hearts were racing like crazy, especially Mike's. They hid behind the vans, hearing the bullets punch holes in it. Mike and El held each other close, the box being near the two of them. Axel yelled and shot some more, injuring some cops before running out of ammo. He went back into hiding as they now shot the windows out, some of them screaming.

"Do something, Kal! Do something!" Axel shouted at her. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist. She then opened them, a bit of blood running down from her nose. Whatever she made the cops see made them stop shooting. That was cue for almost everyone to get inside the van...only El and Mike didn't go in.

Kali looked at them and said, "Jane, Mike, get in." But they still didn't, thinking about all the people they left behind in Hawkins and looking somber.

Mike shook his head. "I can't," he told her. "I need to go back home."

El's eyes were watering. "Me too." That surprised both him and Kali. "I'm sorry, but we have to go back." This made her sister dumbfounded. "Everyone we know back home...are in danger."

Axel chimed in by saying, "Hey, this ain't the time for a talk, Shirley! We gotta go NOW!!" 

The Indian girl's eyes began to water as she told her, "Your mother sent you here for a reason, remember?! We belong together. There's nothing for you back there, Jane!" She then looked at Mike. "If he wants to leave, that's his decision." She said that about him so coldly. "But think Jane! They can't save you! HE can't save you!"

Not only was Mike frustrated with her, but El felt that for her and more. She shook her head at her and replied, "No...but I can save them...and him." She linked her arm with his, making his heart race a bit more. "His home is my home." She then began to run away with him, the boy holding onto his bike box as tightly as he could.

"Jane? JANE?!" Kali called out to her. "JANE!! JANE!!!" She and Mike flat-out ignored her, not looking back and continuing to run. They heard the van screech to turn and escape the cops. They just continued to run, El beginning to cry since she had to leave her behind to do what was best for not only her boyfriend...but for herself as well.

* * *

Thankfully, the young couple found a bus to Hawkins, it having a different driver this time, and rode it. During the ride, Mike whispered to El, "Are you alright?" She just sighed as an answer, her reflection on the mirror showing her saddened face. It broke his heart to see her like this. "Listen, uh...I know it's hard to leave your sister behind like that." She knew he was speaking the truth. "But, you did want to leave, right? You didn't leave her just for me?"

She shook her head and whispered back, "No, not just for you." She looked at him and held his hand. "For Hopper...for everyone else." She smiled just a little. "Hawkins is my home." 

He smiled back at her before asking, "I'm...actually happy to hear you say that."

Her smile was full as she rested her head on his shoulder, her smile disappearing. "We need to save everyone."

He scoffed, his smile disappearing as well. "Well, you can, but what can I do?"

She looked up at him and answered, "You can fight."

He chuckled a little. "I can't fight..."

She looked puzzled. "You didn't learn back there?"

Oh yeah, he did. He nearly forgot about that. He also nearly forgot that he packed a loaded pistol and a foldable knife Axel lended him in his backpack. He and El were in danger due to cops and gunshots. "Well, yeah, I was taught...I'm just not that good at it yet."

She closed her eyes and snuggled next to him. "I'll protect you, then. I don't want you to get hurt, Mike."

He loved that he had such a loving and badass girlfriend. "Thanks, El."

She let go of his hand to grab his arm. "Wake me up when we get to Hawkins, okay?"

He nodded at her, leaning his head towards hers a little. "Of course, El." She smiled before it disappeared, showing that she was asleep. He didn't blame her for being so tired. This was a hell of a day...

"Hey," greeted an unfamiliar woman's voice. Mike looked to the right to see an old woman sitting one of the seats next to his and El's. "I hope I'm not being intrusive by asking this, but are you two together?"

He looked a bit confused. "What?"

She leaned a little closer to him. "You and that girl, what's your relationship?" He blushed at that question, making her giggle a little. "It's alright. You don't need to answer." He sighed and looked out the window again. Old ladies were always nice, but always want to know everything...he would know, one of his grandmas was that way. "Though, aren't you two a little young to be traveling by yourselves?" He didn't answer since it was obvious. From the corner of his eye, he saw the old lady grin and look away from him. "Well, you're quite the chatterbox, boy."

That made him smile a little and reply, "It's just...it's been a long day...for the both of us."

She nodded and looked at him. "I see. You two ran away from home?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Yeah...it was a stupid decision."

"And you're going back to it, I hope? To your parents?"

He nodded at her again. "Yeah." He looked down at his sleeping girlfriend and smiled. "We're going back home." She smiled at him once again before looking away and minding her own business. He stopped smiling and looked down at El again. He just realized that she looked so cute while sleeping. He then looked at the window once again, seeing his own reflection. Though they were going home, it wasn't to celebrate.

Whatever they were going to walk into will make this a hell of a night.

 


End file.
